With But a Pull of the Strings
by Sdebeli
Summary: Forged by knowledge left behind for a worthy apprentice and broken by the betrayal of his own people, Naruto swears to achieve his dead sensei's wish and become the most powerful ninja in the world while doing so. A smart,cynical Naruto/Yugao.
1. Legacy of the White Sage

**Preface:**

A departure from the usual Naruto finds Sasori's workshop/ Gets trained by Chiyo, and finally makes an army of human puppets, puppeteer stories. As Naruto accidentally finds out, Monzaemon Chikamatsu, the inventor of the art of puppetry was a resident of the Fire Country at one time. In the cellars of a small abandoned estate, a seven-year old Naruto stumbles on the scrolls which explain the theory behind his greatest works, the Ten Puppet Collection, all along with most basic explanations behind the skills of puppetry, along with it's practical applications ad many other ninja arts. Without any background knowledge the boy studies, learning at an insane rate, learning and mastering most of the basic arts within four years, even creating his first puppets. However, once his new found interest is discovered, the council(aka Danzo and cronies) wish to turn him into a weapon and take his knowledge, so with a heavy heart, Sarutobi sends Naruto out of the village escorted by a young jounin prodigy named Yugao Uzuki (aged fourteen at that point). Naruto, embittered by the betrayal promises to become the greatest puppeteer the world has ever seen. A sarcastic, dark(but not evil, more along the cynical side) and highly intelligent Naruto. Pairings will be NarutoXYugao(Certain), or NarutoXHarem (possible, but this would be a first for me, and I'd want to do it properly, also Yugao is fixed here) (the most likely characters running through my head would be Haku (yes, I consider her to be female ) and Yugito or Fu(as a female, it was never noted exactly which sex he/she is))

Keep in mind that I might be reusing certain characters from my other story... my naming skills are far from perfect :P

And there won't be any Kushina or Minato insertions. For all intents and purposes, Naruto is alone in the world with no family. I will not be exploring that side of the world in this storyline. Also, I have decided that Jiraya won't be Naruto's godfather. There will be contact between the two, and what else will happen, I'm not sure yet.

Also, there will be a bit of theory here, mostly to explain my view on the puppets, and to give you some idea what Naruto will be able to pull of, and there will be several special abilities that he will pick up on while developing his skills. As a side note, he will only be using normal puppets (Come to think of it, there is nothing normal with those ten puppets Chiyo pulled out against Sasori, but what the heck), and not human puppets, to at least make it somewhat different from the usual puppeteer stories. I also got a few interesting ideas I'll pull through with it

I've decided to go with the cannon on some accounts. The villagers don't like him, but simply isolate him, rather then try and harm/kill him. He is still the village pariah, they still refuse to sell him goods at normal or even remotely fair prices, and he isn't an idiot. I have however changed the starting time of the series to a point where Naruto has just begun his stay in the Konoha Academy. There are a _few _who would gladly see him dead, however, that's nowhere near as easy to accomplish.

Also, sorry that writing this took far longer than expected, as much as I tired, I couldn't produce a good first chapter.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto or any of the characters/names/other from it. The only things I own are the original ideas presented here.

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_With But a Pull of the Strings_

_Chapter 1 : Legacy of the White Sage_

'_Rain_' Naruto duly noted as he walked out of the doors of the Konoha Ninja Academy. He watched with a great deal of sadness as the other children rushed into the welcoming arms of their parents or siblings, and but a few aside from him were alone, rushing to homes that were probably as empty as his.

'_At least they had something to look forward to' _he thought, with emotion that didn't belong to a boy of his age.

He could go 'home', but that made little sense to him. It was just a few empty rooms, and lacked all the warmth that he had seen in the homes of others.

Nothing had changed.

Sarutobi had told him that the academy would be a great place to make friends, something he sorely lacked, the only ones being Ayame and her father Teuchi, along with the Hokage. But the first day turned into a disaster for him. The teachers threw him out for the smallest of offenses, and they once even did it when he was behaving perfectly! If he hadn't already expected, he would probably be heartbroken by their actions, something he was growing increasingly sure of was their plan.

With a resigned sigh, he decided to take a long walk through the village.

There was something very pleasant about the rain, he would argue, and the fact that the the cool droplets chased away the oppressive heat of the last few days was something he very much appreciated. The small bag that held the few books he owned would probably be getting soaked, had the old hokage not woven in a few designs that he called seals into the fabric, which kept the interior perfectly dry. The books he had were all second-hand, however, the small tinge of disappointment he felt at first when he was gifted with these vanished quickly when he noticed that each and every one of them had a number of notes inscribed at almost every page. Most of them were jokes or pranks-in-the-making, but there were a few rather clever pieces of advice, and unusual uses of some items and jutsu.

He laughed, a tired and somewhat bitter laugh. He had yet to learn how to use chakra, something most students figured out the first day, greatly in thanks to the teachers who would show them. The only one who bothered to show him anything was Iruka, and even that was limited as he would not give up teaching all of them just to help one boy, regardless of how bad the case was, during class. Still, at least he offered a few pieces of advice after the classes, answering all of his questions gladly and even suggesting some books that might help, apologizing that he himself was unable to because of his duties. The man at least treated him civilly and kindly, which was something Naruto deeply appreciated.

Naruto sighed for the hundredth time that day. The rain was quickly turning into a downpour, and there was no shelter in sight. Frowning on this development, he ran, turning at corners, and hoping to find some place to hide from the rain.

After about five minutes, he was soaked completely, and yet, the streets of Konoha offered little shelter. He was far off from his home, but regardless he wasn't overly worried. He wouldn't catch a cold. Regardless of what he did, he never once got sick. But being soaked was both uncomfortable and unpleasant. Thankfully, he noticed a single, slightly ajar door in one of the side alleys. His common sense would have screamed at him that entering such places was a BAD idea, but he was too tired to care.

Stumbling into the room behind the door, Naruto was surprised to note that it was actually quite comfortable-looking. The room would have reminded him of the foyer of a rich estate... had he actually been to one. However, what would be strange was the fact that the only further exit from the room was a stairwell leading down. A wisp of curiosity guiding him, Naruto decided to explore, and went down the stairs. What he found, not that he knew it then, would change his life forever.

A large square chamber, designed mostly as a workshop/library, around ten meters in width and about three meters high, one half of the room was covered by nothing but bookshelves, while the other side contained a forge, a woodworker's bench, a single table dedicated to precise metalwork and likely, jewelry, and finally one covered with various bottles, beakers and other lab equipment. There was also a writing desk, and on it a sealed letter.

Again, driven by his curiosity he walked over to it, and noticed the short note written on it.

_'To whomever finds this'_ written in a simple, elegant script.

"Whomever finds this?" Naruto thought out loud "Well, I guess that's me."

Without a second's doubt, he ripped the letter open, pulling out the rather high quality paper inside, and began reading

'_To those whom it may concern,_

_I, Monzaemon Chikamatsu, in a relatively sane state of mind leave this workshop and all it's secrets to a future generation to learn from. My greatest pupil, Chiyo lacks the creativity and drive to truly breath life into my art, so I leave it to you reader, in hopes that the Art of Puppetry will live once again as it was meant to be. Within the walls of this room you, hopefully a prospective puppeteer, will find all of the years of research I used to create my art. If you wish it, learn from me, study my art, master it, and teach it to others. If not, I beg of you to find a worthy pupil and guide him here. _

_For better or for worse, I leave this world, while leaving my legacy in your hands reader. I hope that you will make me proud._

_Monzaemon Chikamatsu, The White Sage and creator of the Art of Puppetry'_

Naruto held the piece of paper in abrupt shock, staring, and rereading to make sure he understood correctly. This man left everything behind to a potential pupil who would find this place one day? With full faith in him? Even to him it seemed like taking too much of a chance, but he certainly wasn't going to complain.

As he finished, he thought to take another look in the envelope that letter was in, finding another short note inside. It read shortly

'_Oh, and the scrolls on the shelves are ranked by difficulty, from beginner to mater, from bottom to top. Good luck_'

With a small chuckle, Naruto sat down on the chair before the desk. It was time to make a very big decision, life-changing in fact. The choice wasn't hard, considering that he had choice A) preparation by academy, in which case he would likely get killed as soon as he hit the field if today was any indication, and choice B) accept the man's legacy and learn, no, _master_ everything the man left behind, and at least become a proper shinobi. Well, at least he didn't have much trouble deciding.

"Lowest shelf, was it?" he muttered as he walked over to the bookshelves, only then realizing just how much knowledge was deposited within this workshop. The rows were color-coded, with the lowest being white, going through a light green, dark blue and finally pitch black at the top. The white row, by itself was large enough to take weeks to read, and likely months to master.

A large grin covered Naruto's face... he had six years to master it all

Several hours of checking the various scrolls netted him a fine collection of literature. He soon found out that there was an order in which he was supposed to learn all this stuff, as much of it relied on basics he didn't possess.

A quick look revealed the titles of the scrolls as '_The basics of Chakra and Chakra Control_', '_The Theory Behind the Art of Puppets_', _'Use of Poison in Puppetry', 'Introduction to the Arts of Sealing' _and_ 'Basics of Carpentry and Metalworking for Novices'. _With a devotion that would probably scare Maito Gai, he sat down on the desk to read, right after replacing the letter back into it's envelope. The first scroll he wanted to read was the theory on puppets, so he pulled it out and started reading.

'_While it may seem truly complicated to the novice, the Art is far simpler than it appears. Every puppet is a mechanical device relying on the chakra of the guide to work. In order for a Puppet to work properly it must be crafted with utmost care, and apart from the knowledge on the crafting of wood and metal, there is little more that is needed apart from creativity and foresight to craft a basic puppet. More complicated and powerful designs will require a carefully crafted artificial core_' he carefully finished reading the first part. Beneath it was a series of relatively simple diagrams which displayed a humanoid puppet's arm, and it's mechanics. The understanding came almost naturally to him, and he noted every detail before continuing _'The diagrams displayed above give a complete look into one part of a puppet. The puppet itself is a physical extension of a user's chakra network. The Chakra Strings used to connect the tenketsu to the puppets are a copy of the body's own channels for Chakra. The use of said technique requires a great deal of chakra control, which may be difficult for those with a great capacity, however with proper training it is still easily achievable. It would be prudent to learn all of the basic chakra control skills such as levitating small objects over your tenketsu with nothing but chakra, using chakra to climb vertical surfaces, or even walking on water. After said exercises are completed, it should be relatively easy to create a chakra string necessary for controlling a puppet. At first, it will take ten fingers to control a single puppet, but with practice and experience, it will take just one'  
_Naruto blinked once, and then twice. Perhaps all this reading wasn't so boring after all. With a wide smile on his face, he prepared to go home when he noticed a small note attached to the wall next to the exit.

_'This chamber is utterly secure against any attempts to enter without the owner's permission. In order to bind this place to yourself, pour a drop of your blood on the plate behind this paper, and you, and only you will be able to enter unopposed, all others will have to be led in'_

The small needle attached to the paper worried him slightly as it evoked unpleasant memories, but he steeled himself, and pricked his thumb, releasing a single drop of the crimson life-fluid onto the small metallic plate. Instantly, something he could now identify as a seal came to life, absorbing the drop into it. His work here was done for the day.

_(A month later, Konoha academy)_

Umino Iruka was having a good day, he had to admit, though there were a number of interesting points. For one, Naruto Uzumaki had drastically improved during the past month, though he was still somewhere in the middle of the class. He was sorry that he couldn't help the boy more during class, but he often dropped by later asking about clarifications on many of the subjects, some of which were a bit ahead of the class, such as advanced mathematics, saying he needed them for a 'project'. He was curious, he had to admit, and explained the relatively simple to complex things he asked, glad to be of some help to the orphaned boy, knowing full well that most of the other teachers did their best to sabotage him.

Naruto was ecstatic on the other hand. The past month was probably the best and most productive time of his life. Within a month, he had read over the entire white section of the workshop, though he still didn't understand over half of it. By now, he had a grasp of chakra, and it's most basic applications, along with a simple academy exercise, the ability to hold an object attached to a surface of the body through nothing but chakra, along with the basics of woodworking and metalworking. He remembered the explanations that stated that in order to truly mater puppetry, he needed to create his own puppets,rather than rely on the creations of others. He had also begun to study the basics of chemistry and herbalism, though by now he had no applicable knowledge, seeing as the basics mostly consisted of the use of the equipment available to him. But still he learned, even the seemingly boring and useless subjects such as mathematics and physics.

Three of the main lessons that his 'sensei' had stated in his writings were simple ones:'The most potent tool of a shinobi is deception', 'Shinobi have no pride' and 'Overspecialization breeds in weakness'. In other words, keep your enemies guessing by never revealing all of your skills unless you had to, don't be afraid to ask for help simply because of your pride or worse, arrogance, and never focus so much on one area that the others suffer. Every skill had it's counter, and if you had only one skill... suffice to say that it wouldn't be pleasant

He had found an eager helper in Iruka, as whenever he asked for him to explain something after class, he gladly did so, giving him a far better understanding of certain subjects than he would normally have. Who knew that those annoying scrolls had such a damn _cool_ use?

There were a few other things he found out. Naruto had an unnaturally large chakra capacity, and comparatively bad control over it. The fact that he started working on it early on would later help greatly, once they started learning about jutsu and other things.

Still, Iruka wasn't the only one who noticed the change in the young Uzumaki. Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage was one of the few who kindly looked looked on the boy, both because he liked the kid and out of a sense of obligation, both as a Hokage, and as a friend of his late father. He hated the fact that he couldn't tell Naruto anything yet, Konoha was still recovering from the Third shinobi war when the Fox struck, leaving the village greatly weakened. At this point it was hard protecting their borders, let alone him should certain interested parties find out of his lineage.

His current interest was brought on by two facts. First, he hadn't seen him since the academy started for the year, and second, he was doing rather well, though the tail he had set on him reported that he frequented a building near the older parts of Konoha, and that he spent long hours there. The fact that Naruto already told him what he was doing there and showed him the workshop kept him perfectly calm about it, though he advised Naruto not to mess around with the cutting tools in the workshop until he was a bit older. Regardless of the fact that Ninja used kunai, shuriken and other sharp on pointy objects, those things couldn't compare to a saw meant to easily cut metal, especially when it pulled on the arm of a child.

It was a calm day so far, Naruto inwardly mused. His class was nothing overly impressive, as he realized that most of them could be divided into a few, easily manageable groups: those who were useless, those who had potential, and those who were going to be shinobi.

Within the first group were most of the famous Uchiha fangirls, who joined the academy wanting nothing more than to seduce the arrogant prat, apart from one Ino Yamanaka who seemed to have potential and Sakura Haruno, of whom could be said the same... had she bothered to practice more.

The second consisted of the civilian children who didn't have the additional training that shinobi families provided to their children, along with a couple of lazier ones from said families, mostly like Nara Shikamaru, who while incredibly smart, was lazy as hell, or the young Hyuuga Hinata, who had serious confidence issues.

The third group was mostly empty, consisting of Shino Aburame and Sasuke Uchiha, the two quiet ones who kept to themselves mostly. He would also place himself in this third group, had he not been keeping a low profile a much as possible. It had been a long time since he was a happy child who would smile all the time, by now, the most common expression on his face was either a light scowl or an emotionless mask, though he did smile occasionally, to the few friends he made over time.

Shino had proven to be a stalwart if silent and capable person, someone who rarely talked, but weighed his words wisely when he did. Shikamaru, for all his lazy-ass attitude was an interesting person to talk to, and occasionally, laze about with, along his big-boned friend Chouji.

If there was one way to describe all of the friends he made in the academy, it was loyal to a fault. Shino was fiercely loyal to his clan, and to the few people that he would call friend, Shikamaru and Chouji were just as loyal, though more open about it. He knew he could tell them anything and count on them to keep the secret unless they believed it was badly detrimental to his health.

Iruka's lecture was as boring as ever, but he forced himself to pay attention, using every chance to practice his skills. Today's lecture was on the battles of the First Shinobi war that happened nearly sixty years ago, and while the lecture was boring in the extreme, after a full month Naruto had noticed a pattern in the way Iruka spoke. While he talked about it he constantly highlighted tactical and strategic choices, at times, armament choices on both sides. It was an eye-opening moment when he figured out just what the hell Iruka was doing, and the older chunin noticed as well... though it wasn't exactly hard to note a completely shocked expression on the usually scowling face of the young Uzumaki. While Iruka was talking about history, he constantly pointed out information that they could adapt, and later apply... '_What did that scroll on seals say? Analyze, adapt, apply. Just like here._' he mused, glad he figured out something seemingly important.

With renewed focus, the lecture passed by sooner than he noticed, and the notes he had taken during the entire time were shorter than those of others, but far more to the point, and something he planned to share with his friends. Just as he was packing his stuff, he noted a shadow drawing near

"Hey Naruto, want to join us for food after class?" he recognized Chouji's voice, Naruto suppressed the chuckle.

"If you're picking the place Chouji, why not" he retorted, acknowledging the boy's taste as far as food was concerned. They went out like this three times already, and he had not once regretted it. You could say whatever you wanted, but the Akimichi knew their food

"Actually, we're going over to my place" he added, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head "My mom's cooking lunch and said I could invite some friends over so..." he trailed off, picking up his school bag and waiting for Naruto

"I'm guessing Shika and Shino already agreed?" Naruto asked, schooling his features from the usual scowl into a much more relaxed face, forcing himself not to drool over the idea of said lunch. He rarely ate high-quality food, mostly because he seriously couldn't afford it.

"Yah, they're waiting outside"

"Cool. Let's go then Chouji" he answered, letting a bit of the appreciation he felt for his friend slip by.

Chouji, unlike Naruto was far less guarded with his emotions. He was also a far more intelligent fellow than most gave him credit, he simply didn't feel the need to use it that much. He was also surprisingly good at reading emotions, and he knew what Naruto felt and wanted to say, but wouldn't. He didn't really mind.

The two proceeded in silence, ignoring some of the comments they heard, though both noted that no one dared make a jab about Chouji's weight... the last one that did caught the ire of not only the big-boned boy, but all three of his friends as well. Just outside the classroom, Shino and Shikamaru were leaning against the wall, waiting for them.

"Well?" Shikamaru asked, while Chouji nodded in answer.

"Let's go" he added.

Time passed, and soon enough, the four friends reached the fourth of the six years of the academy. By now, most normal children were still messing around, but these four were a n image of what a shinobi should be: inconspicuous, intelligent, and deadly.

Naruto had chosen a new outfit a scant few days ago, having found a trader who cared little of the opinions of others, mostly because he only dealt with shinobi.

Black cargo pants, with an excessive number of pockets, a sleeveless red shirt with a hood, and a gray vest over it, equally hooded, along with black sandals that covered everything but his toes, and a pair of full black leather gloves. Over his eyes, a pair of opaque sunglasses kept his eyes hidden from the rest of the world.

Unlike him, the rest of the 'crew' chose to change little of their appearance, except for Chouji, who had take to letting his hair grow into a mane very much like his father.

Naruto believed in sharing his knowledge with his friends, and since they wouldn't (and he knew, and respected the reasons) share their family secrets, he had kept his growing skill with puppetry a secret as well. And he had made remarkable progress during the past three and a half years.

After parting ways with his friends, Naruto went directly to the workshop. He rarely, if ever went to his apartment, preferring the quiet of the underground chamber to work in. On one of the worktables was Naruto's latest project... his first puppet. It had taken him three long years to master all the necessary skills to create and control one, to master all the skills needed to create each and every one of it's weapons and tools.

Over those three years, Naruto had come to appreciate every single piece of equipment left behind by the late master puppeteer. The forge was used to make every last metallic part, down to the nuts and bolts that went into the devices. The fine tuning and crafting of the miniature machines was done at yet another table. But his pride and joy was the last one, dedicated to chemistry and herbalism. The fine assortment of 'special' tools placed in the puppet would catch anyone of guard

The humanoid shape that was lying on the large table was remarkably human-like, having the shape of a man at least twice Naruto's size. While he possessed no obvious weapons, a number of deadly mechanisms provided an array of armaments aside from it's steel-reinforced fists. He had made a mental note to thank the old Higurashi for the coal, iron and the suggestions on forging steel. Acquiring materials for puppets was nowhere near as easy as it sounded.

Every single piece of the body had at least two devices hidden inside. The arms first had the hands, quickly followed by a coil of ninja wire with weighted blades at the end, meant as either a weapon, restraining device, or a grappling hook. The second tool was a senbon launcher on the left palm, and a bomb thrower on the right arm, both hidden beneath a sturdy dark brown robe. The torso had no weapons, but was heavily reinforced, and it housed the heart of the entire device, and artificial extension of ones chakra network that made the puppet as powerful as it was. The scrolls had a stern warning on the subject, that part, a small metal, glass or crystal sphere, covered with a number of seals was the most crucial part of a puppet, and should it be destroyed... The back had a strong armored plate, along with retractable extensions for someone to stand on, along with two shoulder plates meant for sitting.. The head consisted of an old helm, adapted for this purpose with a rather strange device.

One of the scrolls contained instructions on the creation of fueling scrolls, simple tools meant to give power to puppet devices. While most mechanisms wouldn't need them as they were powered by small amounts of the user's chakra, some of the more powerful required specific things to work. For instance, it was possible to produce an effective flamethrower by using fire scrolls and good conduits, gas or projectile launchers with wind scrolls, shockers with lightning ones or even water blasts from water ones. Naruto had chosen on a flamethrower, fueled by a set of five scrolls set on the puppet's back, beneath the robe. Five very strong blasts of fire, released straight from the face beneath the helm, which was further covered by a large hood, revealing only a pair of glistening red eyes made of glass.

The Guardian, he named the puppet, and it was the result of a full year of work. Along the line, he had made several much simple puppets that didn't have an artificial chakra core. One such was a snake, a king cobra, who's picture he had seen once and was deeply impressed. His artistic skill on said work were... amateurish at best, as the snake looked as intimidating as a small puppy. It didn't help that he hadn't installed any of his tools inside, preferring to keep it as a training device rather than a weapon.

Naruto was happy for the time, so far he had completed the entire white and green part of the shelves, learning a great deal in all of his chosen areas.

In the academy, he had only showed as much as he had to, and he hadn't displayed the full extent of his skills in front of his friends. Regardless of his extended studies, he had the brains not to consider himself omnipotent. Almost any chunin or even a good genin team could still defeat him.

The scrolls had advised developing multiple areas of the ninja arts, but could only offer knowledge on a few, and he knew better than to rush forward foolishly. So far he had learned a rather interesting taijutsu style, that relied on flexibility, speed and accuracy rather than strength, though it did help. Weapons were simply not his thing. His knowledge of genjutsu was surprising, especially to him, considering his inherently bad control. Ninjutsu on the other hand, he knew only a few apart from the Academy three. But that wasn't the end of it.

Seals were an interesting subject, though they demanded more time than he had available, so he decided to take that as a secondary subject, to his primary one: puppetry. The original chakra string exercise was brought to perfection. He kept practicing daily until he could create a string from any tenketsu in his body, and even though controlling puppets that way proved much, much harder, he preferred having his hands free for jutsu or sparring against his enemies.

A small chuckle escaped his lips at the thought. His enemies? Since when did an academy student have oh-so-powerful enemies? How little did he know at the time. Still, he had made the conscious choice concerning his fighting style, choosing against the standard I-hide-in-the-back-while-my-puppet-kills-you style most puppeteers used for a far more aggressive one, where he fought at the front with his puppets alongside him.

His knowledge of chemistry and herbalism was downright scary. So far he knew to create deadly toxins, explosives of various sorts, herbal mixtures that both helped him and hindered others... in those two areas, along with his growing knowledge of poisons he was much deadlier than your average genin, let alone an eleven year old. Dedication to one's work paid off.

He pulled out a scroll he had prepared specially for this day, the day he completed his first, true combat puppet. The day he truly began honoring the man he now referred to as sensei even if the man was long gone. No other helped him as much as the late Monzaemon Chikamatsu, not even Iruka or the Hokage, or his friends. He had given him what he needed most, a goal to strive for, something to drive him forward against he odds. Once, he wanted to become Hokage, but now he had long given up on that dream, knowing it to be impossible in a village that hated him. He was content to remain with his friends, and to watch each others backs, and to grow stronger so that he wouldn't fail them.

With a couple of quick moves, the scroll was spread alongside the golem in front of him, a faint trail of blood marking it's length. Another short move, and pulse of chakra sealed the entire machine into the scroll, and Naruto quickly placed it in the specially prepared holder inside his vest, where it would be safe, before leaving the workshop, planning how best to test it, and then smiling at the thought of the faces his friends would make once he showed it to them.

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**Author's notes:** Here's the new story. Yugao hasn't made her appearance yet, that will happen in the next chapter. The first part, the one in Konoha will last two or three chapters, as much as I decide I need to build the bonds I want Naruto to have with the others.

Keep in mind that regardless of his cunning or sheer firepower, Naruto still isn't strong enough to challenge a stronger ninja who could simply outmaneuver him or use a long-range jutsu to kill him instantly. I intend to reveal the full depth of his skills during the next two chapters where it will actually be needed for his extended breathing.

Also, I apologize for the very few spoken words in the entire chapter. I simply couldn't find a way to cover it with actual conversations. Also, keep in mind that I don't have a beta, so there might be some typing errors. Any volunteers for both this story and Determination are welcome to message me, I could use the help  
I'm also betting that at least some of you recognized one of the three rules I gave for Naruto and where it comes from :P

Anyway, read and review folks. Send any interesting ideas you have as well.

Till next chapter...


	2. Short Days of Peace

**Author's Ramblings: **Well, it's been a while since I've updated this story... mostly because of a major writer's block. However, my recent and very entertaining time watching the animes Black Lagoon and Gintama eliminated said problem. The first was damn good, while the other was hilarious, so I was feeling up to continue writing.

Anyho, you get the chance to see the first demonstration of Naruto's skills in action. Don't get surprised by some events though. This is still the setting of the stage, the real stuff begins next chapter

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_Chapter 2 : Short Days of Peace  
_

Along Konoha's exterior line were a number of small to large parks. In one of said parks, Shikamaru found it a good time to lie down, relax and watch clouds pass by. Most people would simply assume that he was lazy. He wasn't really lazy, he simply enjoyed watching clouds more than he did training... or school... or listening to his mother rant about how he was never going to make a name for himself by lazying off like his father. Troublesome woman.

Still, it was a nice day to relax a bit. They had no tests during the coming week, so there was no need to bother about it. And Naruto did promise a surprise.

Right next to him were the two of the three remaining members of their group equally relaxed as he was, and equally curious.

"Any ideas what's Naruto going to do?" Chouji asked.

"No" came Shino's short answer

"I swear, that troublesome blond loves to keep us on our toes" Shikamaru added his opinion

"Speaking of troublesome blonds..." Shino started, pointing a lazy hand towards the figure that was approaching.

"Hey guys" came Naruto's loud voice, earning three mumbled greetings from the others. Weirdly enough, Shikamaru was the first one to take a look at him and noticed a strange, satisfied smirk on his face.

"Naruto, what are you plotting?" came the annoyed question

Naruto immediately raised his hands in front of him, as if defending himself"Sheesh, what's with the sudden paranoia? It's not like I haven't called you up like this for something other than stirring up trouble, is it? " he tried, but was rebutted by a loud NO.

"Fine. Look, I just finished work on my 'project'" queue three raised eyebrows "And I thought you might want to see it." he added, pulling out the scroll from his sleeveless vest. "Just watch"

Shikamaru had to admit he was intrigued. Naruto never was one for small talk and nonsense in the time he had known him. If he had something interesting to show them, then by hell it would be interesting.

With a casual flick of the wrist, the scroll began unrolling, invisibly aided by a number of chakra strings as it formed a spiral over a small area. Shino noticed that the scroll already had blood covering it, and the resulting cloud of smoke that appeared slowly started dissipating, revealing a hulking figure dressed in dark robes.

"What the...?" was all that came out of Chouji's mouth at the sight, while Shino let his glasses drop to his nose, revealing his milky gray eye staring in what in his case had to be surprise. Shikamaru was the calmest of them all, though even he would have to admit he was surprised. Naruto took their moment of shock to connect the ten chakra threads to the core within the puppet, jumping onto it's shoulder, and pulling the scroll back into his vest.

"Meet the Guardian, my very first combat puppet" he announced, forcing a wave from the metallic hand, pleased with the fact that the joints he worked on so hard made no sound.

"Combat puppet?" Shino asked, replacing the black glasses over his eyes, just a faint hint of curiosity present in his voice.

"Yep. Ain't he awesome?" Naruto answered, with just a hint of childish glee in his voice, as he let the commands flow through the ten strings, conveniently placed along the tenketsu of his spine, so as not to hamper his own movement, but to react even faster than they would with his arms. Practice revealed to him that puppets reacted not to he finger movements of a puppeteer's hands, but to the impulses of chakra that mimicked the nerves, effectively sending the orders to the core, which then mimicked the brain, controlling the body through an extension of said chakra strings. It was the simple fact that the fingers were the easiest to use that made them so practical, but he never was one to be pleased with just the basics. Hell no, when he first figured out he could project chakra strings from other parts of his body, he first tried the palms, slowly shifting the projection points all over his body until he could do it from _anywhere_. But still, he still hadn't mastered controlling a puppet this advanced with just one string, and even though he knew he shouldn't, he had just enough pride that he didn't want to make a fool of himself in front of his friends.

"Naruto, isn't puppetry an art from Sunagakure?" Shikamaru casually asked, and barely noticed the small flinch Naruto gave off. He didn't want to reveal where he learned it. Could it have been that he found some scrolls or something? Or was it something much worse... Shikamaru couldn't figure it out.

Naruto already figured out what Shikamaru was thinking, and though he didn't want to yet, he realized it was only a matter of time before he had to reveal the workshop to his friends, if he was going to keep their trust.

"Not really" he stated in a solemn voice "It's all the matter of having the right information. But for now, I think I want to show you a few tricks that this guy is capable off. Spar, three on one." as soon as he finished saying that, the others had already leaped into action, Shino and Shikamaru to his sides as Chouji moved full frontal. Naruto leaped of towards Chouji, the puppet behind him spreading his arms towards the foes to the side.

Shikamaru cursed at the hailstorm of senbon needles that came at him from the puppet's left hand. A quick motion of his long knife parried most of them, while he evaded the others. Only then did he notice something strange about them

'_...the fuck? These aren't ordinary senbon... that's acid!_' he mentally analyzed the situation. Spars like this were nothing new to any of them, and they usually returned home badly bruised and with multiple cuts, but this was insane. Still, the acid was a weak one from what he could tell. And he had a very bad feeling that Naruto could cook up something trice as nasty if he wanted to. Now _that_ would have been a problem. His hands instinctively went into the handseal for his favorite shadow jutsu, hoping to buy some time to hatch a proper plan to fight the deadly duo and for his two other teammates to disable at least one of them.

Shino was in a similar situation, except for the fact that the right arm of the puppet released small round objects at high velocity. His eyes widened as he realized that at best, those were smoke bombs. At worst, he knew that Naruto would either prepare flammable gas or some insecticide... though he was sure it would be the first. His skill with various chemicals was tempered by his love of things that went Boom. Relieved when he realized that those were simple smoke bombs, he sent his brood to attack him directly, remembering how his father spoke of the puppeteers of Suna, and their inherent weakness towards his clan's chakra-draining insects

Of the three of them, Chouji had it probably the easiest... that is, he wasn't pelleted by various nasty objects, though Naruto's fluid and flexible taijutsu combined with a pair of kunai wasn't anything to scoff at. It was scary how well they knew how the other fought, as Chouji made up for his lack of speed by powerful blows that easily disrupted Naruto's motions, and forced him on the defensive. With a quick motion, Chouji found himself facing the towering form of the Guardian,as a steel fist came crashing on the place he had just a moment ago been standing, leaving an unpleasant indentation in the ground.

Naruto had taken the moment's distraction that their switch had caused to leap on the Guardian's shoulder, using it as a springboard to move towards Shikamaru who was trying to catch the massive puppet's shadow. That was one of the reasons he switched the targets. The other was because Shino's Kikaichuu were getting closer, and if they were going to eat chakra... he was royally screwed.

With a rapid motion of both his hands, he threw both kunai at Shikamaru, forcing him to dodge before they exploded, courtesy of a pair of exploding tags wrapped about their handles.

The lazy nin jumped back, retaliating by a pair of shuriken, which were promptly caught and returned, forcing him to inch further back, and away from the other two. He noted that Naruto was doing his best to isolate him and beat Chouji so that his only actual concern, Shino would be easier to beat. He also noted that Naruto hadn't used a single jutsu yet. The trouble was still brewing.

Naruto frowned when he threw back the shuriken, as Shino's beetles were getting dangerously close to the puppet. He didn't want to kill them for the sake of his friend, but this was training, and if he didn't take this seriously... it was just as dangerous as attacking him all out. Promising himself to apologize later, he fired the second salvo of bombs in the the direction of the unfortunate beetles, throwing a kunai at the same time. Shikamaru's eyes widened as Naruto turned the entire puppet around and fired a single senbon needle at the rapidly expanding cloud around the swarm, scoring a direct hit on the kunai along with a single spark...

For the first time since he met him, Shino had an angry scowl on his face, he was angry that Naruto pulled it off, even if he understood the reasons why. At least he managed to get away relatively unharmed, as some parts of his coat were caught in the blast.

Chouji was also worried at the sight, Naruto was no longer pulling his punches, which to him meant that this was getting serious. So far, none of them had started pulling off their family jutsu except for Shikamaru, but now, it was time to go past that. There was no risk for either Chouji nor Shino, as theirs couldn't be replicated regardless of skill. Shikamaru was in a similar situation, though he was far more liberal about his skills.

A scowl once more crossed Naruto's face as he figured out the next set of moves that were about to happen. Now was the time to pull all stops, but he couldn't do that without killing them, so he went for the next best thing, restraints.

That day, Shikamaru learned another invaluable lesson about his blond friend. Never, ever, in a million years should you underestimate your opponent. Just because you outnumber him, doesn't mean he can't kick your ass, and do it with style, while smiling a thousand watt smile.

With an impossibly quick flick of his wrist, the glove on his right hand created another kunai which promptly hit a still flying Shikamaru, pinning him to a nearby tree, and releasing a strong sleeping gas which immediately knocked him out. At the same time, the Guardian turned it's hands towards the two remaining nin, and fired of the wire reel, which quickly found it's way to the two... suffice to say that the electric shock knocked Chouji out, but before he had a chance to do so to Shino, he realized that what he hit was a Bug clone, while the real one had just landed on top of his puppet, severing his chakra strings, and letting the large puppet fall in an undignified heap.

"Well damn." Naruto whistled to his opponent "Good as ever Shino. Any challenges?"

"Thanks" he shortly answered, while using the small break to recall all of his Kikaichuu to his body. "Pure taijutsu. I don't use beetles, you don't use your tools. Normal ninja weapons are open" he added.

"Fine with me, though you're helping me wake those two up after this." Naruto responded, the two of them taking a moment to readjust their shades. Complete silence reigned for a few moments, before both of them leaped to action.

Naruto landed a blow to Shino's chest, using the upward momentum to strike a blow with his other leg towards his chin, but the young Aburame twisted out of the way, landing a single strong blow to his left knee, dropping him out of the spin, and using the opening to lay another blow straight to the blond's gut.

With a soft curse, Naruto landed on all fours, preparing for the next attack, while keeping his guard up. Shino took to the offensive by pulling out a pair of kukri, one of the weapons he'd been learning to use. While similar in the amount of damage they dealt to kunai, the curved blades had several advantages over the straight edges of the kunai. Naruto responded by picking out another pair of kunai, without any exploding tags this time, parrying the first blow easily,and evading the second that tried to slip by., however, he was caught unable to block the third blow, a knee straight into his family jewels.

With a silent gasp, he stared into Shino with what could be best described as a murderous glare and a promise of a long and painful death. The look he got back was 'You asked for it'

Naruto always enjoyed fighting Shino. Whereas Chouji was a powerhouse, and probably the strongest fighter of his entire generation, and Shikamaru the tactical genius, Shino had a good balance of both, and that was why he enjoyed fighting him in pure taijutsu with the eventual addition of weapons. He challenged him because he was better than he was at it, and Naruto was forced to adapt and progress just to keep up. He reasoned that he would sooner or later come across a situation where jutsu or puppets were not an option, if for nothing else, then for infiltration purposes.

They were both blissfully unaware of a pair of eyes watching their every move.

_(ANBU Tracking and Espionage Division, Office of the Division Commander)_

"Cat" the commander Chizaru Katere, a woman in her early thirties called. She had long black hair tied into a ponytail, and coal black eyes. The rest of her rather impressive body was hidden by her uniform, but it hinted at a veteran of many battles, in more than one meaning.

As soon as she spoke, a single kneeling figure appeared before her desk

"I've just finished reading your report, and I must say I'm impressed" Chizaru spoke "You've handled the situation perfectly, and retrieved the documents with the target being none the wiser. Congratulations are in order" she shortly stated "However, your skills are required by the Hokage, so please go"

And in a moment, without a single word being spoken, Yugao Uzuki, alias Cat of ANBU was gone.

"Now, if I can just get the rest of them in line" Chizaru added while rubbing her temples before returning to the thrice accursed paperwork.

(_Back on the Clearing_)

"Damn that hurt" Naruto groaned as he finally got up. "Still, all in all, not bad for a day's work, eh?"

The clearing looked more like a battleground after their spar, but none of them really minded. Shikamaru was sitting with his back to one of the nearby trees, trying to shake off the effects of the knock-out gas from his head, while Chouji was still untangling the wire. Shino helped him out of the strings by cutting them off wherever he could. Pretty soon, all three of them were once more lazing about contently, each of them having once more made a check on the growth of their skills.

Naruto was pleased with his progress, he was aware that Shino was likely to defeat him, his skills were good, but unlike Shino, he had to focus on multiple areas, and without the support of ninjutsu or some of the few genjutsu he managed to learn (not that they would properly affect the Aburame, but that was a moot point) he didn't really stand a proper chance... which was why he fought. Seeing your greatest achievement brought down so easily was a humbling experience, and it once more reminded him not to overestimate his own skills or underestimate those of his enemies.

"You are improving" Shino shortly stated after a long gulp of water, before passing the bottle to Chouji.

"Yeah, though you still kicked my ass." Naruto returned

"You were at a disadvantage, paired against the enemy most likely do defeat you. It was to be expected" the bespectacled boy argued, speaking more today than he did in weeks, a fact that didn't go unnoticed by the others.

"You're awfully talkative today" Shikamaru grunted from his place, still slightly buzzed by the knockout gas. "Is something wrong?"

Shino remained quiet to the question, and received a friendly nudge from Chouji.

"You know, if you need someone to talk about it, all of us are here for you" he said, a friendly smile covering his face, while Shino simply nodded in return

"Today's the anniversary" he quietly stated, bringing a complete silence to the group. Naruto, Chouji and Shikamaru all knew what he was talking about far too well. Shino's mother had died five years back from disease. Aiko Aburame was greatly respected and loved by her adoptive clan and family , mostly because of her gentle, caring heart, which showered her family with enough affection to stave off the weird and disgusted looks many of them got for their unique skills. Her death brought a great sadness in her son and husband, along with the rest of the family, though they all persevered. Shino was hit especially hard, being a mere six at the time, and ever since then he had acquired his family's characteristic stoic image, withdrawing his emotions within, to protect the aching heart. In his own way, Shino was as much disliked in the village as Naruto was, as people feared what they couldn't understand.

Naruto wasn't sure whether to find their situation funny or sad. Chouji was an inherently shy, caring soul, though by no means weak, often the target of mockery for his weight. Out of the group, the one who got the least negative attention was Shikamaru, though one could argue that it was because he rarely got any attention at all, aside from that of his friends, and even that was mostly because wasn't afraid to state his opinion when others did what he thought was wrong, and for standing up for Chouji when needed.

He decided to write it off as funny, mostly because he didn't like the idea of being sad, regardless of reason. It may seem shallow, but he hated feeling broken and helpless, and he never wanted anyone close to him to feel what he had to feel.

"Come on guys, let's go get something to eat" he offered, soon hearing a number of appreciative grumbles.

The shadow that watched the spar disappeared, as if was never there

_(12:00,Hokage's Office)_

Yugao Uzuki was a prodigy in every sense of the word. Genin at nine, chunin at twelve, and ANBU at fourteen, the finest kunoichi of her generation, and generally surpassed only by Itachi Uchiha in the speed of her ascension through the ranks. The fourteen-year-old girl was calm, professional and very skilled in all matters concerning Shinobi life... however, she was also very isolated, growing up as an orphan, and lacked almost any social skills. Her prodigious talent pulled her away from her generation, and the only friends she ever made were her teammates... right before they died during the chunin exams in Kumo. Apart from her teacher in ANBU, she basically had no one.

Sarutobi had taken all of these facts into account when choosing her, hoping to help both her and her future protege, a certain blond. He hoped that his mostly friendly nature (at least to his friends) would help her develop in that aspect as well, while she would prove a positive influence for him. Kami knows he needed one, even if he was finally making friends.

"Enter" Sarutobi spoke quietly.

"You asked to see me Hokage-sama?" Cat asked, her voice flat, and slightly muffled by her mask, a standard procedure for ANBU to ensure their off-work identity isn't revealed.

"Yes. I have a mission, well, more of a request for you. Unlike the usual missions you are used to, you are allowed to refuse it, and I will not hold it against you" he slowly explained

"Sir?"

"Take of your mask for a moment" he ordered, and she did, without a moment's hesitation. The removal of the mask revealed a sad image. A cold expressionless face, framed by shoulder long purple hair, and deep purple eyes. While some might mistake that as the look of professionalism the ANBU usually wore, Hiruzen knew better. The look others wore hid something beneath it... here, there wasn't much to hide.

"Yugao, the task I have for you is a long term one. I want you to watch over a certain individual, namely Naruto Uzumaki. You do understand his importance to this village?"

"Hai, he is the jinchuriki of the Nine Tailed Fox."

"True. But he also much more than that." Sarutobi started "Take a seat. This might take a while"

An hour later, Yugao left the office, her thoroughly shocked face concealed by her ANBU mask. Hiruzen Sarutobi had managed to achieve his first objective.

_(14:00, Naruto's Workshop)_

Naruto found himself content with the morning's achievements as he walked into the hall of the underground workshop. He unsealed the Guardian on the workbench where he had been originally assembled... he needed to check for damage, as the battle wasn't exactly easy on either of them. Thankfully, the damage was minimal, and easily mended. Among the jutsu that his sensei left behind were a few very simple ones that dealt with mending damaged materials. Though those were mostly cosmetic repairs, an interesting side note claimed that if sufficient chakra was used, it could easily mend even large cracks in wood and metal, which was exactly what he needed for his puppets.

He had already begun preparing plans for his next projects, the Lightning Weaver as he liked to call him. A puppet in the form of an overly large spider that would use ninja wires to great efficiency to form webs, and later shock it's prey, along with having a side arsenal of other weapons. The other he called the Hummingbird, multiple small, airborne puppets that were the equivalent of a mobile artillery position, carrying an amount of weapons and elemental scrolls used to fire off attacks. Both ideas unfortunately had a number of kinks he still had to iron out.

Naruto had refused to use finished designs that were offered, preferring to rely on his own creativity to make new puppets for his collection/arsenal.

"Let's see what's on today's schedule" Naruto muttered as he walked over to a tome he had been using to make his plans. He had intended to continue his chakra control training today as his skills still needed a lot of polish, but after the demonstration, he changed his mind, and went to focus on his puppetry skills. He still had a long day ahead, and he intended to use it well.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Later that day, he was unaware that he was being watched as he walked in the streets, heading to his apartment. He had left something behind there, and he needed to pick it up before tomorrow. He seriously needed his toolbox to continue working, but first, a dash of ramen.

Yugao had watched the blond going about town for an hour now. So far, all he had done was walk, visit a few places, and go to his old apartment, which by the most recent report, he rarely used anymore.

_'What are you up to now Uzumaki?' _she asked herself as he kept moving. The Hokage's orders were clear, watch over him, and approach at a suitable time. Try and befriend him. But the boy was more than just curious. He was intriguing. Every move he made had a purpose, even when he trained, his style was based on that principle. No excess exertion, maximum force at all times. Sarutobi was unclear about his level of skill, but he had an extremely good basis. So either he had a damn good teacher, which she doubted... she seriously didn't want to consider the second option that came to mind, which left the third, the he was likely self-taught. For the time being she would watch over him, and try to learn more about this boy who was but three years younger than her.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Number 375. That was the only designation he had. An agent of ROOT, loyal solely to his home, Konoha. Those few who knew of ROOT's existence believed them to be Danzo's mindless puppets, but nothing could be further from the truth. At the time, they believed him to be the best choice for leading such an operation, so he was tolerated and obeyed. While some members who were raised from near birth to be agents had no emotions, most were simply masters at concealing and controlling their feelings. Each and every member of ROOT had given up their identity and their very lives to protect their home. Naruto Uzumaki, while not a threat, was interesting to Danzo, and therefore, 375 was sent to study him, and discover all he could about him. The battle he had witnessed earlier piqued his interest, and he continued the study. Their leader would be interested in this. With a quick step he vanished away to make his report.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Naruto took one short look at the sky above him after finishing his training schedule for the day. It was dusk already. He tiredly sighed as he walked over to the supplies he had carried for the day. A simple meal, consisting of rice and some meat, along with a bottle of water. He had eaten quickly, opting to spend the night outside, and watch the sky.

"Funny. Why do I get the feeling I'm being watched" he muttered, laying his back on the comfortable branch under him, staring upwards through the opening in the leaves. His friends preferred the clouds, but he loved the stars. Distant and cold perhaps... but ever shining. There was something very comforting about them. The loneliness no longer bore down so badly on him in recent years, but there was still a sense of missing something. He was a perspective future ninja, with a solid circle of friends, the potential which he, to his belief, used to it's maximum.... so what was he missing?

He let his mind wander, eyes locking on an especially bright star in the sky, letting the depressive thoughts leave his mind. He would not brood, dammit! That was that uptight Uchiha's job.

Shaking his head at the annoying idea, he let himself drop from the branch, and proceeded to reseal his equipment into scrolls, before returning to the workshop. He made one last check over his equipment before placing the shades back to their place on the collar of his shirt, pulling the gloves off, stuffing them in his pocket, and going home. He needed some sleep tonight.

The walk home was relaxing, the clean, sharp night air clearing his mind. Most people ignored him, though he paid it little mind. If they didn't like him, it was their fucking problem. Hands in his pockets, he walked on, he kept his attention up. Just because no one tried anything yet, didn't mean that they wouldn't... it never did any hurt to be careful about things.

"Nice night" came a voice from his right. Female, slightly older, his limited amount of knowledge told him. The second thing was to keep his calm, even if he was surprised, and to keep casual

"Uhm, it is" he politely answered, eyes rising to take a look at the moon. "The sky is rather clear"

_'So he's keeping calm. Curious' _Yugao thought as she kept walking by him "You seem a bit young to be staying outside this late" she offered. It was nearly midnight, after all.

Naruto chuckled in turn

"It's not like I have any parents to worry." he retorted "Besides, I'm preparing myself to be a ninja. My foes aren't going to ask me if I went to bed on time when they try to kill me, no?" he jokingly added, bringing a laugh from the unseen woman next to him.

"You're a strange one" she bemusedly commented

"That coming from a girl who starts talking to unknown people on the streets, in the middle of the night?"

"Touche"

"I'm Naruto" he offered in a friendly voice, turning to face the person he was talking to. To his right stood a young woman, a few years older than he was at best, dressed in long, black pants and a dark gray sweater. Long purple hair fell to her shoulders, framing a calm, but hardened face, along with equally purple eyes.

"Yugao. Pleased to meet you." she answered. Both moved on silently for a few seconds

"So, apart from talking to strangers in the night, what's a young ANBU doing out here in the middle of the night?" he nonchalantly, but quietly asked. To her credit, she didn't as much as flinch.

"What makes you say that? And what makes you think that I'm not a foreign agent" she asked curiously.

"Do you really think that after being watched by ANBU for years one wouldn't figure out how to recognize one, especially when he or she is acting that obvious? And I know I've seen you once or twice around town for the past several years" he continued in the same calm tone he used. He finally relaxed the hand that had been going for the kunai concealed on his baggy cargo pants. He really didn't know why, but a year ago, he had first noticed an ANBU taking checks on him during his training sessions, at times when he walked around. His studies taught him about a lot of details about Shinobi life. For instance, the most common scenario where someone got an ANBU tail was when he was considered either a flight risk, a threat, or under need of a guard. So, curious, he confronted the Hokage about it. The old man had smiled in a combination of pride and annoyance, and simply stated 'training exercise', leaving it at that. Naruto knew that he could be hard to find at times, and that if he _truly _wanted to disappear, they'd need a real tracking expert to find him. Anything under that wouldn't find him, but he was very much aware of how good the Aburame/Inuzuka tracker teams were... Shino had retold some of the stories he had heard from his family members. He was sure that they'd track him down in five minutes, if it even took them that long. The Hunter-Nin division did their job perfectly.

The only further response was near-silent 'hm' from her. A comfortable silence descended between them after that comment, as the two kept walking, eventually reaching a place where their ways parted. Both stood still for a moment.

"Well, it's been a pleasure talking to you Naruto. See you around" Yugao kept her goodbyes short, before walking off into the night. Naruto let a small smile twist his lips before proceeding home.

'_Well, you don't see that every day. Wonder what it was all about. Maybe she's the new one sent after me_'

He quietly opened the doors of the workshop. He had grown used to it over the years, and the slight tingle of the security wards no longer bothered him. Hanging up the vest on the coat rack he had installed, he continued downstairs, walking towards the simple, spartan bed, before taking off the glasses from his shirt, along with the shirt itself. He seriously wasn't in the mood to sleep with any clothes on, but he had plans for the morning, and those included two things: getting as much sleep as possible, and wasting as little time as possible. Freaking Sunday.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Yugao was also retiring for the night. The checkup had gone by perfectly, and the meeting as well. While she had meaningfully given hints, she hadn't expected him to pick up on her profession so easily. Perhaps there was more to him than she had expected. At least the task would be interesting.

By many accounts, her room was a mirror of Naruto's, spartan, with but the bare basics, apart from ninja equipment. The only exceptions to this were a group of three pictures.

The first was that of her late parents, who died during a routine border run some ten years ago, a young couple in their early twenties, smiles etched on their faces. She had her mother's purple hair, and her father's eyes.

The second was a snapshot of the three of them together, the only such picture she had. One of the last times she smiled openly as a child.

The third and final was her with her two dead teammates along with their sensei, also dead. after their first mission. Before she closed herself off to the world, and became the perfect shinobi.

There was a fourth one, but that one was kept in a different place, her room in the ANBU headquarters. Her without a mask, along with her first commanding officer and trainer in ANBU. That was one of those unsafe to keep outside. Operation protocol and all that crap.

Forgetting the nonsense for the night, she rechecked all of her equipment, making sure it was safely sealed up in the various hidden seals over her body. One of the protocols explicitly followed at ANBU was that you should keep your identity hidden, apart from a very select few. Exceptions were occasionally made. In order to do so, they kept their gear hidden in expertly crafted seals that were practically invisible on the skin. The only sign of their occupation when off duty was a symbol of the leaf tattooed on their right shoulder, something every jounin gained once they reached the rank.

Pleased with the results, she took of her clothes, walking to the bathroom for a long shower before sleeping.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **Cut and wrap. Damn, it took me so freaking long to finish this chapter. Sorry for that, but the fun part starts from the next one. For the record, I intend to publish both 'With But a Pull of the Strings' and 'A Demon Among Reapers' at the same time next chapter.

I hope it's of acceptable quality. I seriously had a lot of difficulty writing this one.

Regardless, read and review ladies and gents.


	3. Night of the Escape Part 1

**Author's Ramblings:** Sorry for the delay folks, I got stuck helping my family prepare for new year's eve, and later got roped into helping prepare a part for the same occasion. Anyho, I've finally finished it, so I hope you enjoy it

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_Chapter 3 : The Night of the Escape Part 1_

_(Two weeks later)_

_He was running like mad, running as fast as his legs could carry him. A grim shadow loomed from behind, engulfing him in a miasma of fear , and no matter how fast he ran he just couldn't escape it. The world around him blurred by quickly, and far ahead he could see a figure dressed in white, beckoning him forward. The face, just like everything else was blurred, invisible to him. And just as he was about to grab hold of the hand offered to him, he felt a sharp stabbing pain. He looked down to see the tip of a blade extending from his chest..._

He jerked up from the bed. His hands were shaking, his body covered in a tin sheet of cold sweat. He took a look at the clock, reading 2:31. Just two and a half hours of sleep. Or nightmares more likely. Still shaking, he walked over to the small stove he had installed, drawing a seat to it to warm up. He placed a small pot filled with water as well, opting to rummage through his supplies for tea until the water was boiling.

He rubbed his hands in front of the glowing fire, chasing the shivers away. He gingerly extended his right arm, a number of strings flying from it to capture one of the thicker shirts he had lying about, a long-sleeved, black turtleneck. He gave a short, barely perceptible pull, bringing it to him, and putting it on. While such displays were next to useless in combat, they were incredibly practical to use. The other hand picked up a small cup for the tea, bringing it to hand just in time to fix some up.

He would go to sleep again soon, but for now, he really needed the warmth of the fire next to him, at least until the shrill horror of the dream fled from him.

Why was he dreaming something so weird? And what did it mean? He had no answers to either of the questions, and then there was the feeling that something would go terribly, irrevocably wrong. And soon. He pulled a short sip from his teacup, pondering over the meaning of the feelings running through him, and trying his best to keep them in check. More than once, his sense of danger had saved his hide during training from what might have been a debilitating blow... neither of his three friends went easy on him during spars. And now, he was sure that the same sense was trying to warn him of something that was about to happen, but what?

_'What does one do in a situation like this? Do I continue normally, as if nothing happened, or do I try and prepare for a completely unknown danger?'_ he silently mused, entranced by the flames before him.

_'It's never a bad thing to be cautious. I'll prepare.' _he finally decided.

Giving up the warmth of the place next to the fire, and taking one last longing look at the bed, Naruto went to prepare his arsenal for the worst possible scenario he could think of: war.

Rubbing his eyes tiredly, he walked over to the form of the large puppet, and continued the last minute repairs. He thanked heaven that he had enough stamina and endurance to go without sleep for a night without any problems.

He feverishly worked until dawn, having long since completed the repairs, he had turned to the various equipment in his workshop. Various substances, some explosive, some corrosive, carefully prepared for use and sealed into either scrolls, or small seals carefully added to his clothes. Kunai with hollow handles and blades, filled to the brim with solidified explosive paste along with a thin ignition tag that would detonate it.

He took a look at the clock once he was finished. It was six in the morning by now, just the proper time for a light breakfast and the start of his daily exercises. Whatever happened, happened. He had done all in his power to prepare

_(06:00, Nara family estate)_

Shikamaru lazily opened his eyes in the comfort of his bed. While it was not the most comfortable bed in the world, it did just fine as far as he was concerned. The alarm that was just about to go off was instantly switched off, and a single pebble flew over to the light switch, turning the lights on. The sun had already come up a bit, but since his room faced the north, he didn't get much light inside, and that suited him fine most of the time. Apart from when he was feeling lazy as hell and he had a shitload of stuff to read. Naruto had summarily kicked his ass yesterday, and he was stupid enough to let it happen. His father understood what Shikamaru asked of him perfectly, and supported it. However, the resources granted to Shikamaru were limited. Shikaku had merely smiled as he passed a large set of ten scrolls on various subjects that would be of help to his son.

"Why did this have to be so annoying?" Shikamaru thought out loud

"Because you want to keep up with your friends" came the completely unwanted response, courtesy of his mother, who brought in his breakfast. He had planned to work all morning on this and every minute was precious. For a lazy kid like him, it was enough to make his mother worry for his mental health

"Thanks mom." he sarcastically commented. "Mom?" he asked as the woman turned to leave the room.

"Yes, dear?" she turned back. For a moment Shikamaru thought about asking her about the thing that was bothering him, but decided against it.

"Nothing... sorry." he spoke, and turned to the scroll he had begun reading, dubiously titled 'A hundred ways to kill with wire'. He buried his feelings of troublesome events to come in the maters before him.

_(09:00, Location Unknown)_

Artificial light poorly illuminated the corridor as a single person walked down them. It was an old man, with graying black hair. He walked slowly, with a limp, his left hand clutching a long wooden cane. The other arm was wrapped in bandages, held tightly against the body, while a second set of bandages covered his right eye. The unassuming old cripple was in fact Danzo, the acting commander of the ROOT forces. A cunning, and very dangerous veteran politician and former shinobi, who hid his tracks well as he plotted his way to power over the decades.

And the plot he had in mind now was of great interest. A certain boy had come across a piece of knowledge he was aware of for quite some time, but was unable to track it down regardless of the resources he employed. And now he decided it was time to use the well oiled political machine that was the council of Konoha to take it for himself. All he really needed to do was pull his influence and/or blackmail material to convince a number of members to come to the right decision. The council would fall down on the young Uzumaki to reveal where he acquired the knowledge belonging to another village, while his own men would sweep in to take it for himself as soon as he revealed everything. The way he had set things up, Uzumaki Naruto would have no choice but to do so, or face punishment for treason. And to add to the pressure, he intended to send a certain subordinate of his to attack him, and disable him permanently tonight.. The messages were dispatched, the move was made. Now, all that remained was for the plan to come to fruition.

Yes, he had everything planned out, but what Danzo didn't take into account was the living incarnation of Murphy's law that was Naruto Uzumaki. If something could go wrong... it sure as hell would, especially if it was supposed to go against him.

_(09:30, Training Ground 43)_

Along Konoha's edges was training ground 43, greatly favored by the young Uzumaki for the simple reason that it was very rarely, if ever used during the day, being the favorite nighttime training spot for ANBU veterans.

Still, it was his favorite training spot for a while now, mostly since he wasn't disturbed there. He never practiced his puppetry skills outside the workshop out of caution... it would do him no good if his enemies knew what to expect of him, therefore the skills were practiced with great deal of secrecy, bordering on open paranoia. If his late and great sensei had anything to say on the account of it, it would be shortly this: Can it be called paranoia if there are people out for your life?

The place was simple in concept, an abandoned construction site with a lot of open areas and usable surfaces, one of those special ones used for urban training. Shinobi rarely worked in the few larger cities that were scattered throughout the elemental countries, but the training was still a welcome precaution. The terrain was somewhat similar to the forests surrounding Konoha, due to the number of surfaces around, and provided a welcome distraction for the young blonde, who buried himself in physical exercise eagerly.

He had kept his senses keen throughout his walk to the area, and noted the person following him, the same ANBU that had been following him around for two weeks now, making occasional contact in civilian clothes during the night. He was also rather sure that he knew because she _wanted_ him to know, a that fact while annoying, was also welcomed by the blond... he really didn't mind the company as he trained. But she remained distant, watching over him rather than joining.

In a moment of inspiration, he had packed food for two that morning. He really didn't expect her to show up, but he didn't really mind. So, after he finished the physical part of his exercises around noon, he pulled out the second package of food, rice with meat and vegetables, along with a spare pair of chopsticks, placing them on a relatively concealed, but still visible spot in the training ground before taking the other with him for a short walk. To his pleasure, he found the food missing when he returned, a slight disturbance in the dust the only sign that anyone was there. He made a small smile before going to his bag to dig out the scroll on jutsu he had taken for the day. It was a copy of the original one, as he didn't want to remove any from the workshop. He unrolled it slowly, reading the many notes he had taken once more. He had most of it memorized by now, but the very detailed descriptions of jutsu mishaps weren't something he was interested in experiencing.

The title of the scroll was simple, written in large, slightly slanted letters, 'Unusual Clone Techniques'. He had been looking forward to this for a while now, and after over two months of researching the fine details, he was finally ready to start training them, because unlike the usual elemental clones, these were actually a combination of multiple simultaneous techniques molded into one action. The other techniques on the scroll, such as **Object Clones, **were relatively simple, while others, such as the **Afterimage technique**, required skills he didn't yet possess, such as Shunshin

The first one he found on the scroll was also the only one he hadn't managed to do yet, the **Mist clone jutsu**. The description shortly stated that it's primary purpose was scouting, and rarely combat, because of the fact that it could turn into mist and back into it's solid, condensed form a number of times before dispelling. It's main weaknesses were wind and fire, both dispersing them with ease. A side note also claimed that in highly humid areas, the jutsu became truly devastating because the clone could regenerate from the air moisture.

Giving himself a nod as he reread his notes, he pulled out a small bottle of water, unscrewing the stopper and pouring it into a small plate. Considering he was still learning to do the jutsu, every aid was welcome. Fine tuning and mastering could come later. The jutsu consisted of just one hand seal, relying more on the user's ability to mold chakra to make it more combat effective.

Placing his hands carefully int the position of the handseal he whispered "**Mist Clone jutsu**", he focused his chakra in the way the description instructed, drawing out a fine mist from the plate of water, and roughly forming it into his own shape, letting out a groan when it broke down. He always had trouble with clones. Silently cursing his lack of skill, he went to work, ignoring the passage of time as the entire afternoon passed by

Yugao watched Naruto train with great interest, while still keeping attention around. She was surprised by the small gift of food he left behind. It was a thoughtful act, one she appreciated. Of course, she only ate it after checking for poison. Interest or not, she played by the rules... most of the time.

The attempts to perform what seemed to be a clone jutsu unknown to her interested her, just as much as his nearly insane drive to succeed did. Whereas most chunin would be dead from chakra exhaustion, Naruto was still working, progressively improving as the day went by, going from being completely incapable of forming the clone, to finally completing the jutsu six hours later, a tired but satisfied smile covering the boy's face. But he didn't stop there, he kept practicing, and within three hours, to her shock, he completely eliminated the vocal component, and improved the creation time down to less than a second, making it fully combat viable. Nine hours of relentless work, a dedication she had rarely seen in anyone. If he had trained like this since he started the academy... she shuddered at the though. The sheer concept of the jutsu he performed made it at least a C rank, one he had made usable within an impressive nine hours. And what did he do after it? He packed up the equipment, careful not to leave behind anything, and started reading the next technique in the scroll while walking home

She made a smile behind her mask, quietly following Naruto as he went on home.

_(20:30, Office of the Hokage)_

Right now, the office of the honorable Hokage was probably the most dangerous place to be within the village, due to a thoroughly mad Sarutobi Hiruzen. The reason for his rage? The accursed council had once more gone behind his back, and made a decision that he could neither veto nor fail to execute, as the absolute majority of it agreed.. He knew well who's greedy fingers were pulling the strings behind the council this time. Danzo.

Naruto was either to surrender the foreign teachings he had acquired for study and subject himself to the tender mercies of the council, along with being under constant surveillance later on, or be executed for treason. There was a third option he was aware of, one he didn't like in the least, but it was a better choice than the previous two, if only by a small margin. Right now, he regretted listening to the advice of his two former teammates eleven years ago concerning the boy's heritage and everything. Gritting his teeth together, he let out a small, short pulse of chakra, aimed to contact one of the most reliable people he had at his disposal. If they wanted war, by god they would have it. He would remind them just why he was called God of the Shinobi, and was still feared by his enemies, despite his advanced age. With a wicked smile on his lips, he prepared a set of scrolls, sealing them up in another one, and giving them to Tiger, one of the senior ANBU operatives in Konoha. The reason was that he knew he could trust the man with this important mission. As long as the council couldn't reach Naruto before he put the final signature on the decree, he could leave Konoha and be unaffected by their decision. It would likely break the boy's heart, but it was either that or what was best described as a prison without bars. And the signing wouldn't be done by morning if he had anything to say about it.

"Tiger, I need you to find and bring two people to the Sarutobi estate, as fast as humanly possible. Naruto Uzumaki and Yugao Uzuki. If anything goes terribly wrong, I want you to give Naruto this scroll and escort them to the northern gate"

_(21:15, Naruto's old apartment)_

With a light screeching sound, the door of Naruto's apartment opened, revealing the young boy behind them. The apartment was suitably empty, the sound of footsteps echoing as Naruto walked. He remembered leaving a few cups of instant ramen here should he ever need them. Idly dropping the backpack he carried on the bed, he walked over to the kitchen, preparing the food when he noticed something odd. He knew he had cleared out most of the stuff from this place, leaving behind only a few empty scrolls, a couple of cups of ramen, and a few other bits and pieces. He knew however, that he certainly did empty his hidden stash _and _closed it. So why was it open now? He knew few people would bother entering the place, as he was never there. Tensing up, he pulled a kunai in his hand, the fist clenching around it tightly as he descended into a half crouch. Something felt off.

He walked over to the small floor plate that concealed the stash, and was shocked at what he saw. Before him were plans, defense plans to be precise. He knew because he had seen such things before, Sarutobi having shown him a few heavily outdated once, from before the last war. These however, were brand new, most likely made very recently, and very accurately.

He knew he hadn't stolen such plans, and that the Hokage would certainly not give any to him, but when he noticed another object next to them, the pieces fell into place. It was a diplomatic pass... for Suna. Along with a small storage scroll. What Shikamaru said just a day ago came back to him. Wasn't puppetry exclusively a Suna technique? The plans and pass would indicate that he was a either a spy or a traitor, most likely the second. He also had a feeling that someone wanted to get their hands on his workshop and the knowledge contained within. And the final stroke came when he sensed a presence in the other room.

"Naruto Uzumaki, you are hereby placed under arrest for treason. Come quietly" the distinctively male voice ordered. Yeah, right. Three things passed through Naruto's mind at that point. One, the timing was too damn perfect, somebody wanted him either dead or imprisoned... which was pretty much the same. Two, he had only two choices, stay and die, or run and _maybe_ survive. And three, he likely wasn't going to see his friends again. As Shikamaru would aptly put it, troublesome.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Yugao was silently cursing as she watched the... unique scene unfold in front of her. She hadn't seen Naruto fight yet, being only present for his training sessions alone so far. But what she had seen was insane, an academy student should not be able to counter an ANBU operative, even a rookie one, and yet... she didn't think anymore. Her job was to protect him regardless of the threat, and if what Sarutobi told her was true, it was the least she owed him.

Naruto was running for his life, that much was obvious, as the man hadn't given him as much as a chance to surrender, immediately going for the attack. A setup, he realized, but that part didn't do him much good, as he kept trying his best to dodge and out think his opponent. There was a reason why the ANBU were the village elite, as Naruto sported a number of cuts and bruises along his arms, along with numerous tears on his clothes. The only reasons he was still alive was the fact that he had unsealed the Guardian to protect him while moving. There was little doubt in his mind that this was a do-or-die situation, and every inhibition he may have had towards killing someone or issue against using all of his skills was long gone even before the first slash he survived from the man.

The few jutsu he knew were next to useless against his enemy, as his speed was simply to low to properly execute them. Weapons? To slow as well. His only options were instant traps and the puppet. Right now he was regretting not picking the high speed motion exercises.

The ten strings were still attached to points along his spine, allowing him to control the puppet. The battle was strangely silent, only interrupted by the occasional sound of metal meeting metal, or rarer flesh.

He dodged quickly, managing to avoid a low blow from the short ninja-to the ANBU used, using the Substitution jutsu to replace himself with a ready puppet to avoid the follow up blow. He had only then noticed that both were a distraction made by a clone, as the original appeared behind him blade prepared to slash at his throat.

It was in that moment that Naruto for the first time in his life accepted that he was going to die. There were no tears, no saddened whimpering, though there was little time for that. Right now, no matter what he did he would be unable to stop an opponent so much stronger. He merely closed his eyes, and awaited the blow to come and end it. He nearly chuckled at the relief he felt.

Which is probably why he was so surprised when the blow failed to come. In fact the only sound he heard was a squelch, and the sound of a blade leaving flesh, along with the feeling of warm droplets hitting his face. He apprehensively opened his eyes, coming face to face with the corpse of the man who had just a few seconds ago tried to kill him... and above him was another ANBU, female with a cat mask. He immediately recognized her as the same woman who'd been watching him since that night two weeks ago, Yugao Uzuki.

"Cat-san?" he asked in a somewhat tired voice, still panting from the tiredness. He wasn't ready for a fight against someone that much stronger... for all his skills, he _might _be able to outwit and defeat a chunin, but strong foes he couldn't beat yet, for the simple lack of combat experience he didn't stand a chance. He knew then and there that his life would have been over had it not been for her.

"Are you alright Naruto?" she asked in that muffled but concerned voice. She wasn't even thinking about the fact that the man she had just killed was an ANBU operative. Yet.

"Yeah...these are just scratches." he responded, finally calming down, and proceeding to seal up the puppet, rubbing the blood from his face in the process. He felt surprisingly calm, though he was sure it was the adrenaline in his system which helped him

"What happened?"she calmly asked, her mind already filling out some of the blanks.

"I've been set up and declared a traitor." Naruto seriously answered, pulling out the documents that were placed in his apartment. "I found these inside my old apartment"

Yugao took a careful look at the plans and pass placed there, along with a small storage scroll which she had little doubt contained travel supplies fit for desert travel. She knew this because similar things were made for deep cover agents at times. However, she also had little reason to believe Naruto would be responsible. The scenario he offered was a reasonable one, and while no overly surprising, thanks to the Toad Sage's spy network, they had a rather good idea of most foreign spies in their midst, effectively allowing them to feed false information, which was also one of the reasons that Konoha survived the strategic fiasco that was the demon attack eleven years ago. It also meant that someone wanted Naruto out of the picture very much, and combined with the knowledge that she possessed because of her assignment, she was beginning to get a much clearer picture than the one Naruto probably had. And it worried her considerably. Add to that the fact that she had just killed another ANBU. Things had just gotten very complicated.

"Cat-san, I think we need to move" Naruto offered, but was stopped by a hand on is shoulder. He swallowed hardly, turning around to meet the expressionless white mask of Tiger of ANBU. It was official, things had gone to hell.

Yamato, alias Tiger of ANBU was a generally calm man, with measured reactions. What he had seen had broken most of that controlled image. If the Hokage hadn't warned him that something might go wrong, he would be going crazy on them, but he reasoned that this was what the aged man had in mind when he said trouble. He rechecked the scroll in his pocket once more before jumping down from his vantage point on the nearby roof. The things he did for his job. Making an on-the-spot call, he proceeded.

"Naruto Uzumaki I presume?" he asked, putting his hand on the boy's shoulder. When the boy responded with a short nod he continued "I have instructions from the Hokage for you. You and Cat are to follow me to his estate, as well as receive this scroll. I'd suggest we move from here before you read it."

Naruto nodded once more, and so did Yugao. Tiger knelt down with a small scroll and sealed up the body of the fallen ANBU. The situation would be thoroughly investigated in the morning, but for now, speed was of the essence, as he could _feel_ a number of people approaching. Even if he didn't know everything that transpired here, it was too goddamn convenient. With a short signal, Cat placed her hand on Naruto's shoulder and the three of them vanished from the street, leaving just before a small group of five shadows landed in the same spot they were standing moments ago.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Dad, are you sure about this?" Asuma Sarutobi questioned. Hiruzen was a flurry of activity ever since he came home, an angry scowl covering his face once he entered the study. On the desk was a pile of scrolls, each of them bearing different labels, though they were unreadable to him.

"Asuma, right now there's nothing else left for me to do. I owe him at least that much. And I certainly don't intend to let that _man_ get anymore power. I've been a fool one time too many." he spat out, not really aimed at his son, more of a rant to keep himself from stopping his work. He hadn't intended to do this originally. He knew well that the boy's father was Minato Namikaze, the late Fourth Hokage of Konoha, he also knew damn well that there was no other choice for the container, since his wife Kushina was the only one that had given birth that day. He had made a number of plans to help the boy, but most of them either failed, or were impossible to execute due to the fact that his resources were overstretched.

His train of thoughts was stopped by the sound of a knock on the front door.

"They're here" he quietly spoke.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

By now, the rush of adrenaline that kept Naruto calm was long since spent, and he had truly began to panic, worried both about his own fate and about that of his savior, the ANBU Cat, better known as Yugao Uzuki, considering that he would likely be labeled a traitor and she as well. Cold sweat had already covered his back and neck as they entered the Sarutobi estate. He had already expected everything to go to hell, the disappointed face of the old man, and he doubted his case would be believed. Sure, just go around saying that the most well-reputed members of the village were against you, as he was quite sure it was the decision of someone high up.

Both Tiger and Cat remained silent during the trip. While Tenzo was curious as to what had happened, he knew better than to ask questions as he guided them. The hokage would sort things out.

Yugao was concerned as well, she had killed a man, who was very much a colleague of hers. It was a fact to be concerned over very much, and due to her position, the best she could expect if things went bad was life imprisonment.

The trio finally reached the study, escorted by one of the servants that worked at the estate. Inside awaited them the weathered face of the Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, flanked by his oldest son, Asuma.

"Hello Naruto, Cat, Tiger" the old man saluted them, his voice betraying the exhaustion of his old age. However, the eyes showed something far different, a burning intelligence and cunning that would and had scared many throughout his many years of life.

"Sir" the two senior ninja saluted, while Naruto remained silent, but worried.

"Take a seat, I was partially informed of what happened. Naruto?" he asked, and the way he said it left no room for discussion. He took a deep breath to steady himself before starting, leaving nothing out

"Fine jiji. I got back from training, deciding to visit my old apartment to get something to eat. Inside I found this" he offered the items he retrieved "Now, we both know that there's no way I could steal the plans, hell I wouldn't even know where to look." he stated truthfully, hoping that the old man would believe him. The disarming but sad smile the old man offered worried and calmed him at the same time.

"I know Naruto. However, take a look at this" he returned, passing the boy a piece of paper, the written decision of the council. He watched the boy read it, face progressively turning from sad, to stunned, to enraged.

His head dropped, his bangs concealing his eyes. He dropped the paper, fists clenching, but the only real sound were his teeth.

"Bastards" he whispered in a low voice, for the first time angry, hateful "calling me a traitor. And for what?"

It was the first time any of them heard him talking like that. It took a lot for Naruto to lose his nerve, but this... this was the straw that broke the camels back. He didn't care about the ignorance of fools, as long as they left him alone, he didn't mind. But to be set up like this just because someone wanted his knowledge? A betrayal that made his blood boil. The others remained silent, though Cat chose to put a supportive hand on his shoulder. It took him a full minute to regain his composure, and the others waited for him to do so before continuing

"So what happens now?" he asked, though his voice was far colder then before.

"Several things, potentially" the older Sarutobi responded "I heard about that killed ANBU, and while I know that no one had given orders for him to apprehend you, I am certain that Danzo has already taken this into account. Your first option would be to stay here and face trial... considering the council will be judging you, and that the old bastard has blackmail on more than half of them, I wouldn't be looking forward to it, as you'd either end up in jail, which is less likely, or you would be branded and under 24/7 guard, only to be used as a weapon... And Yugao here would have a great deal of trouble because she helped you, and would likely end up the same way if not worse for the death" he explained, his voice positively annoyed.

"And the alternative?"

"Exile." he spoke. Naruto remained calm on the surface, while inside his mind was in turmoil. He hadn't considered that option, but it was there, though he wasn't looking forward to something like that

"The only chance you have of actually avoiding that would be leaving Konoha. Both of you. That way you can't be legally prosecuted because of certain loopholes in the law, which pretty much state that you would have to be personally receive a signed version of this decree. No one invokes it, but it's there. You will officially at least remain a ninja of Konoha Yugao, while you Naruto have no such issues,and you will both be free, as long as you don't return to Konoha publicly." Hiruzen stated. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry Naruto, Yugao. Right now this is the best that I can do for you"

Naruto felt his fist clench unconsciously, a rage building up within him the likes of which he had never felt before, but he let it go, as hard as it was. This was neither the time nor the place for acting like a little brat. He felt the hand on his shoulder acting similarly to his own, and he knew that Yugao wasn't feeling good about this either. Who would be? He placed his own hand over hers in a silent show of support. For better or worse, he reason that they were in this mess together.

"How much time have we got?" she asked, her voice sullen even through the muffling of her mask.

"Three hours at best" Tiger responded this time "The corpse won't be discovered for a while more, but that's all we can get you without creating even more of a mess"

Naruto moved to the couch sluggishly, moving more like an old man than a youth of eleven. He felt that way too. Across from him, Yugao Uzuki, minus her mask was sitting down, looks similarly tired. She knew things like these happened, but like always, it was to someone else. Now that it struck her, what was the last thing she had left was destroyed.

"What are we going to do?" Naruto asked tentatively, trying to take her mind off the mess.

"We?" she asked, a slight hint of anger present in her voice"It's your fault we're in this mess in the first place!" she shouted at him, losing all control over her emotions. She wanted him to fight back, anything for a chance to divert her thoughts from her current state in life. But Naruto, he merely dropped his head, and retorted in a broken voice

"I know. And there's nothing I can do to mend things. I'm sorry" he spoke. She could feel her heart clench. It wasn't right, she lashed out at him for no other reason than because she felt burdened herself.

An awkward silence descended on them after that both merely watching the other, each hesitant to speak.

"Any ideas what to do next?" she asked, breaking the silence, and taking a sip of the tea they were offered. Naruto was beginning to calm down, if only a bit, the cogs in his mind once more turning

"I...I think we should stick together, at least for now." he spoke "There's safety in numbers, and it wold be easier to gather resources to survive this way"

"Okay." she returned "What about your workshop?"

"I'll seal up everything there before we leave. I'm not going to leave it here. What about you? Do you have anything you wish to carry?"

"A few trinkets, but I can't reach most of them." Yugao answered him, a slight hint of sadness present in her voice.

"Sorry" he once more apologized, but she waved it off. No use crying over spilled milk.

"Let's just focus on what we can do, alright? I'd suggest we split up and gather what we need, and meet at the northern gate in an hour. It's the least guarded, and I think Hokage-sama will help us out a bit." she offered, while Naruto nodded, his own sense of determination to survive kicking in.

The two of them stood, each picking up their respective belongings before walking towards the door, where they found the old Hokage waiting them, holding a single scroll in his hands.

"I am sorry it has come to this" he spoke quietly "I have ensured that you can pass the northern gate unopposed. Apart from that there is little I can do. But before you leave, Naruto..."he stopped for a moment

"You know that secrets have been kept from you for years now. This scroll contains all the answers I can give, plus a few gifts, but please don't read it until you are at a safe distance. Also, if you intend to travel somewhere, I would suggest Waterfall country. It should be relatively safe there, at least for now" Hiruzen sagely advised, while Naruto nodded, taking the scroll, and tucking it under his vest. It was probably at this point that Naruto's self-preservation instincts kicked in, arguing that if the Hokage knew that Waterfall was a friendly country, then so would the others. And he somehow doubted that someone who went to such lengths to get him would be bothered by legal issues. As he and Yugao went out of the estate, he heard the old man speak once more

"Please be careful" he spoke softly, a single tear coming from his eyes. Naruto couldn't help but smile. As angry and betrayed as he felt, the aged Hokage cared. He knew the old man wasn't omnipotent, and that the Hokage's power was absolute only on paper.

"We will" he answered, stopping a few steps later "Hey old man?" he asked, never turning back "Tell my friends I'm sorry, and thanks for everything" he added as the two of them walked on into the night, parting ways seconds after.

xxxxxxxxxx

The blond boy rushed as fast as he could down the stairs of his workshop home. Right now he had one objective alone, and that was the saving of the legacy his dead sensei left behind. If someone went so fat against him to get it, logic dictated that he should not leave it behind, if nothing else, to spite whomever was responsible. Naruto wasn't into vengeance, but he wasn't stupid either.

Considering the limited time frame he had available, he opened the only faucet there was in the workshop, letting out enough water to form several water clones. It was a relatively simple technique, excellent for manual labor as well as combat. He sent three of them to carefully gather the training scrolls and arrange them on the first of the several large storage scrolls he had prepared. He thanked the heavens that he studied sealing in detail, figuring out how to seal a storage scroll within another one without any damage to it's contents. At he same time he rushed towards the other equipment, the small smithy and the workbenches. He intended to leave an empty, useless room behind him.

Numerous strings made of chakra flared from his body... while these were useless for the fine manipulation that puppets require, they were ideal for the simple things he needed now. He pushed his chakra into the large scrolls he had prepared for the trunk with his clothes, workbenches and the smithy, making the objects disappear in a cloud of smoke, while the scrolls gained symbols depicting the objects sealed within.

With great efficiency, Naruto stripped the room bare within less then fifteen minutes, leaving nothing but empty bookshelves, the spartan bed and a single faucet. Content with his achievements, he took the large scrolls, sorting all of them on a smaller one, making one last check over the entire array to make sure it would work properly, before sealing them up. He then took off part of his clothes, leaving his upper torso bare.

The last action was to pick up a quill and some ink, writing the storage array on his chest, and putting just enough chakra to seal up the scroll there. He redressed himself, giving his home of four years one last look, deciding to pull another 'prank' on whoever got unfortunate enough to have to come in here. He set up five exploding tags along the walls, tying them a to a piece of ninja wire and setting it multiple times over the sole entrance to the room before leaving. There was no one to tell him he couldn't have a bit of fun now and then. Anything to get his mind off of things now.

Without giving things any further thought, he rushed out, keeping a low profile as he moved towards the northern gate.

_(22:30, Konoha's Northern Gate)_

Yugao waited patiently for her apparent partner to arrive. She really didn't want to think about it, focusing more on the present as it was easier to handle the current destination than the issue of their immediate exile from Konoha. Her hands were still shaking, and she was nervous as hell. She had packed up everything in her home,anything that could be used to track her, and she had even persuaded Tiger to help her out by cleaning up her bunk at ANBU headquarters, which he did admirably, even delivering the one precious thing she kept there, the photo of her and her sensei and superior in ANBU.

Still, she kept mentally going through the things she had with her, making sure everything was there, though in reality she was doing it to stop herself from even considering that she would no longer return to Konoha. The fact still hadn't sunk in. The lists changed from items packed, to the shinobi villages and the names of their respective leaders, then moving on to the listings of major cities in those until she finally ran out of subjects. She finally chose to think about the one thing that remained. Naruto Uzumaki.

And as if by magic, the subject of her thoughts appeared, cautiously stalking between buildings. She was surprised at the skill he used in sneaking. His steps were made carefully, making little to no noise, choosing the best route, while sticking to the shadows. She felt that if she wasn't looking for him she wouldn't have noticed.

"Ready Cat-san?" Naruto asked casually, though his voice was visibly strained.

"Don't call me that" she softly responded "My name is Yugao, Naruto. And yes."

Naruto quietly chuckled as the two of them started going, silently slipping past the conveniently empty northern gate. Both remained silent as they kept a slower pace northward to distance themselves from Konoha. Yugao was impressed by the boy's effort to keep up with her, even if he lacked several of her skills that made such journeys a lot easier. They would get nowhere at this rate.

"Stop for a moment" she ordered.

"What?" he instantly responded, eyes locked onto her own.

"We're moving too slow. I'll show you a trick so that we can move faster" she quickly explained "You know how to channel chakra to specific parts of your body, right? I've already seen you do both the Wall walking and Water walking. So, instead of putting out a constant stream, or a short pulse, try sending out a short burst through your feet as you jump"

She was pleasantly surprised to find Naruto an eager pupil, as the moment she finished talking, he dropped into a half-crouch, focusing his chakra as advised into his feet, and jumped, letting the built-up chakra out. She stifled a laugh when she realized that he had used far, _far_ too much chakra and ended up slamming himself through a tree, and yet it was nowhere near enough to be detected. He grumbled as he dragged himself back to her, cursing about miscalculations.

"A bit less chakra Naruto" she jokingly commented as they started walking onward, Naruto still testing his skill, starting from the minimal amount of chakra this time. To their combined surprise, it only took him half an hour to figure it out properly... it wasn't the fact that it was difficult to do, just that it demanded more chakra than your average genin had. Silence reigned once more as they took to the trees, Naruto making practice of his new ability while Yugao watched the almost child-like enthusiasm the boy displayed at the practice. Still, it surprised her that he instantaneously reacted to a passing wolf in mid-motion, sooner than she had detected the animal.

The events since they left had been keeping her attention away from any of the problems. She found the experience oddly refreshing. The boy was sharp, quick on his feet and talented, not to mention surprisingly kind, as she had found out, despite the somewhat rough and cold exterior

'_Well, at least things won't be boring.' _she idly mused as she followed him, slightly surprised that she did so without a second thought

* * *

**Author's Notes: **Finally! It took me forever to write this part. Regardless, here's the newest chapter of the story, and the last of the introduction part. The second part of this will be about their escape... and leaving.

There are a few important details to state. First, about Yugao and Naruto not giving much of a reaction to their exile... it's simple, Yugao is an ANBU, and she has sufficient mental conditioning to control herself most of the time, and to maintain control for the sake of her survival. And as for Naruto? He modeled himself after a veteran shinobi, but never building the loyal devotion that most leaf shinobi have. He's loyal first to his friends, then everyone else, so being banished doesn't strike him as hard as it did Yugao

A few other details to keep in mind. Naruto has a heap of encyclopedic knowledge, though a lot of it isn't practical because he hasn't had a chance to use it. Yugao on the other hand has nothing _but _practical knowledge drilled from her shinobi career so far. (I consider things such as the information on current affairs practical knowledge for ninja simply because it is :P)

And finally, I will be giving a somewhat more detailed listing of Naruto's skills in the next chapter.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. As I have already said, the really crazy part starts now.

Read and review:P


	4. Night of the Escape Part 2

**Author's Rambling:** Well, here we go, I finally finished this chapter. Took me far more than I expected too. Well, to put things shortly, this is the end of the escape arc, and from next chapter will be a new one. To add a few more details here, there will be a six month time skip, mostly to skip the training part as I prefer to keep it as a surprise this time, I already typed too much about it so far, so I'll skip it.

Also, Naruto will undergo a change in those months as both a result of his training, of his new found knowledge and finally because he is maturing even further. Here will also be the last reference to Konoha for a while.

Well, I think that's all that comes up to mind right about now. Enjoy the chapter.

* * *

_Chapter 4 : Night of the Escape Part 2_

The quiet crackle of a campfire was merely one of the sounds that could be heard in the night. The forest around the small concealed encampment, carefully built beneath the roots of a great tree. Two figures were huddled around the fire, one a young, blond boy, the other, a girl of similar age with purple hair. One would probably wonder what a pair of children were doing in a place like this... had there not been a number of weapons placed around them.

"We should be safe for now" Yugao stated. "With that tracking party off our trail, I doubt they'll find us until we cross the border. It's quite a risky idea, but it should work" she pondered out loud, fingers idly moving around an activated seal tag, which Naruto recognized as a Silence tag

"Still, that trick with the clones was brilliant." Naruto commented "To infuse Water clones with some of our blood, and to make them have the same scent as us.... but wouldn't that be useless if it's standard ANBU practice?" he quietly asked, and got rewarded by a tired, longing smile from the girl

"It isn't standard ANBU practice... It's something my sensei showed me one time while we were dodging a patrol in Iwa..." she retorted before giving out a short sigh. "Come on, there's still work to do before we can relax. Let's make a list of our supplies first."

Making a small pause, she pulled out three small scrolls that contained everything she owned.

"I have my sword, five twenty-piece sets of kunai and shuriken, along with a pouch with twenty five senbon needles. Three ten-piece stacks of exploding tags, sorted according to power, two sets of five flash tags, five spools of ninja wire, food rations for ten days in the field, four canteens with enough water for a week, two fully equipped first aid kit, full camping equipment with supplies for a month, three outfits for battle, along with four casual ones and a small set of personal belongings" she added the last part quietly, while Naruto nodded at every item listed off.

"My turn then. Out of standard ninja equipment I have close to five hundred kunai and senbon each, around fifty exploding tags of varying strength, five canisters of home-made knockout gas sufficient to disable ten people each, fifteen vials of fast-acting paralytic poison paste, to small boxes of sealed high explosives, along with the required triggers and safety additions. Apart from that, I have my training outfit and a single set of casual clothes, food supplies and water for ten days, along with the entire contents of my workshop."

"I've heard about that... care to share?" she asked, hiding the bit of surprise at the amount of equipment he had, reasoning that he likely made most of it himself... something that already made him invaluable as a ninja. Any group would be overjoyed to have someone who would provide them with top notch equipment and by the puppet she had seen a while ago, Naruto was first-class material.

"A large number of teaching scrolls left behind by my late sensei, a smithy, a chemistry and herbalism workbench, a fine metallurgy or jewelry workbench and finally a woodworker's bench, all of them fully equipped with all required tools, all of the highest quality" Naruto unashamedly shared the information, while Yugao listened with a completely shocked face.

"What?" he quietly asked, not yet realizing the reason for her shock

"Naruto, can you use all of that equipment?" she asked cautiously

"Yep, for anything except making jewelry " came her response. "That's beyond my level of skill for now.. But I did manage to make a small clock... though it isn't all that accurate" he continued, completely lost in the work he was talking about "Maybe I should readjust the weights, shave of just a bit of metal..." he mumbled on, mostly talking in scientific terms that left her baffled, while she stared on at the young boy/genius/madman talking about things that would have likely had him burned at the stake in certain places.

"Sorry, I tend to rant a bit, it's just that there aren't many people I can talk with" he apologized, a a slightly sheepish smile covering his face. He was surprised, even if it was only a little, that he had opened up to a person he truthfully barely knew. He wanted an answer as to why, but he realized he had none, yet again.

"It's fine, I suppose... I haven't had much talk like that either"she somewhat cautiously answered.

"I'd say we're prepared to fight a war, and we should be safely over the border and in Wave country by morning" she added moments later, before backing herself against the earthen wall of their small encampment. The tree over them had been almost uprooted by the relatively frequent floods that hit that specific area during early spring, leaving a well-formed shelter beneath. Combined with completely dried wood that produced amply heat but no smoke, courtesy of a simply fire jutsu it made for a fine campsite.

Yugao had chosen to align her sleeping bag to the earthen wall so that she could get up faster if needed, while Naruto took first watch.

"Wake me up in three hours Naruto, then I'll take the next shift, okay?" she offered, while the boy nodded, silently chewing on a ration bar that she had offered him a while earlier.

Naruto found that he didn't mind watch duty. He had often overheard it described as the most tiring, boring, annoying and at the same time crucially important job during missions. Shinobi were at their weakest while asleep, completely vulnerable to anyone who would sneak up and attack them, or worse do so from a distance, where what little of their instincts was left couldn't protect them. He sat down across from Yugao, who was still dressed in her ANBU outfit from back home. He quietly mused that she would need to change as soon as the opportunity presented itself, while pulling out a small carving knife and a piece of wood that he was preparing for his next puppet. He really didn't need his eyes to work on something that simple, as he had a good four years of experience working with wood. Naruto quietly extinguished the fire, and got back to his work, relying on his ears to serve him, because he knew that his eyes would fail him in the darkness of a moonless night. He had the thought of reading the scroll Sarutobi had given him, but they weren't out of danger yet. He'd patiently wait until they reached Wave country.

It was a good idea, in hindsight, though back then it was merely a moment of inspiration. When Yugao asked him where he thought they should go he thought for a few minutes then shortly stated Mist. His arguments then were simple, Wind country, and therefore Sunagakure was expected, since he was already being framed with being their spy, while Waterfall country was friendly with them. If the Hokage knew that, odds were, so did most of the village. The majority of Water country was currently in the midst of a civil war, if the rumors he heard were correct, the sole island of peace (quite literally) was the island city that contained the Daimyo's palace, Dragon's Reach. Due to the ongoing war, it would be a place in which it was hard to track anyone and there would be opportunity for mercenary work... though these thoughts only occurred to him now that he had the time to rationally think things through.

The forest around him was lively, and he could hear various indigenous species doing their best to find the night's meal in the form of fruits, seeds... or other indigenous species. There was a simplicity in nature rarely found anywhere else, he mused, senses still primed to any disturbance in the usual patterns. While he doubted he could detect a ninja sneaking up on them, the animals would, and any extreme change meant that they would have to move.

He liked being out in the wild, he realized. Unlike back in Konoha, the beings that truly belonged here had far clearer motives, they either didn't care about you a bit, fled from you, or wanted to make a meal out of you.

The three hour shift passed quickly to him, and thankfully without incident. He gently nudged the sleeping girl, and almost lost a finger to her immediate reaction of pulling out a kunai and putting it to his throat.

"Eh... ups?" she offered with a slight laugh when she realized what she was doing. Naruto merely shook his head, grumbling about 'troublesome women' and 'how next time, he's gonna wake her up with a stick' as he moved to his own sleeping bag.

Yugao listened him grumble, but more importantly she listened for how he spoke and how he walked. His voice was calm and collected, not in the least sleepy as he responded, and his steps were calmly measured. Surprising, for a kid who hasn't had a practical mission yet... though she had an idea why he was able to do so, as the boy likely spent more than several allnighters studying.

She calmly took her place to watch and settled down. There was still four hours until they were supposed to go and she had a feeling the worst was yet to happen. She placed her sword close and calmed down.

xxxxxxxxxxx

"_Commander, we have a trail_" came the voice over the radio. The commander, a man in his early thirties gently twirled his kunai around a finger, the black full-body uniform covering his entire physique while a mask covered the face.

"Location?" he asked

"_Northern sector, heading west_" came the reply.

"Keep tracking then" the commander ordered, even though he was almost sure that the man would find nothing. His prey was far more intelligent and capable than he was informed. But then again, he wasn't a veteran tracker for nothing...

_(06:00, sunrise, Eastern edge of Konoha's forests, near the coast)_

"All we need to do now is to catch a boat out of here and we're safe, right?" Naruto quietly asked his partner in crime.

"That should be it" Yugao answered. By now she had already taken a fine opportunity to change her clothes, to ditch the easily recognized and tracked ANBU uniform, and to seal up her hitai-ate into a safe place. Her clothes were more casual now, simple black pants, along with her gray sweater and a dark brown raincoat over, it's hood covering most of her face. Naruto had chosen to put up both his hoods to keep the growing rain away from his head. The sleeveless vest kept his torso dry, but his arms were covered by the cold water, something that didn't impede him in the least as the gloves covered the only part of the arms he actually needed to use.

The hill they were standing on overlooked a small fishing village that mostly wasn't even on the maps, because it was of little importance, no more than a collection of five small houses huddled together with a small, protective wall made out of wood forming more of a closed off courtyard than a square. A few men of questionable morals stood around. To the two of them it seemed more of a seedier place, such as a camp of smugglers, something that would suit them perfectly. Fishermen could be more trouble than criminals, as the second group were far easier to silence than the first.

The pair walked silently towards the buildings, both alert for any slightest sign of danger.

"I see two guards" Naruto near silently muttered

"Three more on the other side" Yugao added "Definitively smugglers. If I remember correctly, these guys should be smuggling medical supplies into Water Country with a stop for supplies in wave"

'_Why didn't Konoha stop them if they knew about these smugglers? No, what did Konoha stand to gain __by either scenario is a better question_' Naruto asked himself, trying to better understand the situation around him

"Don't worry too much about it. We can talk later" Yugao advised from the side "For now, let me do the talking, I think I know these men" she quietly added. She walked slightly faster, approaching the nearest man

Naruto found that he didn't understand a word they shared, though he managed to pick out the name Tehiro, the other words were a blur at best. The man walked away for a few seconds

"Naruto!" Yugao called him "We agreed. I called on a few old favors and made a trade. They are willing to get us through as far as Wave country for almost nothing. We can lay low there for a while."

"When do we leave?"

"An hour from now. We're staying in that building" she pointed out the small house closest to the water, and to one of the small fishing ships that used for smuggling. They quietly entered, drawing just a bit of attention from the seedy men that worked there.

_(Konoha, Office of the Hokage)_

He had never believed the day would come when he wouldn't mind doing paperwork. Hiruzen Sarutobi was sitting in his office, writing up a number of pieces, each of them either direct orders, missions, or in several cases, legal issues. Last night something had snapped in the old man, and right now... he was about to wage war. He had taken stock of all those who had taken action against Naruto, and by extension himself and the late Fourth Hokage. He had grown soft since he returned from retirement, and he was unsure whether he still had the strength to continue as he once did, but he sure had plans for the time being. A number of aides kept circulating in and out of the chambers, each of the either bringing in more of the information he wanted, or carrying away signed orders and decrees.

If Danzo wanted to start a war, then by god he would get one. He sealed the last order he had in mind for now, before snapping his fingers. Four figures immediately materialized in front of the desk, each of them on one knee, their face concealed by a mask. These however weren't ordinary ANBU operatives. Sarutobi knew full well that Danzo played with a marked deck, so he decided to use the ace up his sleeve as well. Now was the time to cut out the tumor that had grown in Konoha, before the cost became too high.

"Dragon, Turtle, Lion and Snake. I have a special assignment for you" Sarutobi calmly stated to his four finest.

"You mission is simple. I have a list of four enemy agents here. You are to locate them, eliminate them, and deliver their masks to the following location simultaneously. Understood?"

The four figures silently nodded before each taking a target and disappearing. It was about to begin.

_(Water Country, A small island directly to the west of Wave Country, 06:00)_

Naruto silently cursed as he glared at the mist ahead of them. The captain of the ship had promised to leave them at a small island here, where there would be enough resources for them to actually live normally for a few months, which the two of them had in mind. They hadn't talked about it, but they both needed to improve their skills, especially Naruto, if they intended to survive.

"This is your stop. The island is almost never visited.. in fact I doubt anyone visited it in years now..." the captain, a skinny, sharp-looking man dressed in simple clothes commented as he pointed at it

"Thank you for the ride captain" Yugao politely offered, pulling out a small scroll and handing it to him.

"My pleasure miss. Don't get me wrong, but I hope we do not meet again" he answered as the two of them jumped of the ship, landing on the sandy shore.

"Likewise" she grunted. It was time to get to work.

"Naruto? We need to find shelter first. You scout the shore to the right, and I'll go to the left. We meet on the other side of the island." Yugao ordered, while Naruto nodded.

"And if I encounter someone?" he asked. Yugao smiled at the question.

"Avoid them until we meet up." came her response. Naruto shortly nodded, and turned to the right side of the beach, and broke into a run.

It was eerily quiet, the only sounds being the slight wind in the trees and the waves hitting the shore. There were no visible animals, though that might have had something to do with the mist... it was cold, constricting. Even if it was certainly so, it somehow felt unnatural, as if beyond that mist lay a different world. He realized that it was hauntingly beautiful in a way as he kept running. Though he had little time for such thoughts, as he had to keep his attention on the area around him. If this place was inhabited, there would be trouble. His mind momentarily skidded over the scroll that Sarutobi had given him, however, he was still far from safe, so that would have to wait.

The coastline was mostly void of life, the occasional crab or bird passed by shortly as he moved. Stealth was an important thing, he had long since realized, and the path he had chosen was just over the water's surface, using his chakra to uphold himself above the water's level. To a normal academy student, it would have been a nightmare to uphold for more than five minutes... however Naruto was anything but normal in that regard, with a chakra capacity that easily dwarfed that of average chunin, and a regeneration rate that was just plain scary. To him, skidding along the surface of the water while concealing himself in the mists around him was a joke. Sure, any veteran ninja could spot him, but he didn't expect to come across one, and if he did... any of his attempts at stealth would likely be useless anyway.

The coast was unsurprisingly void of any human presence. There were a few broken trees, a couple of animals... but that was it. There weren't even any interesting landmark on what he was pretty sure (you never could tell with such a thick mist) was the eastern side of the island. According to his own memory, he was close to the opposite side of the island and he would likely run into Yugao soon. He kept his mind to the task at hand, now trying his best to recognize the plants and animals around hi, categorizing them according to how they could be used. The trees, if he remembered correctly, were called ash oaks, a species endemic to the various islands of water country. It was difficult to set them aflame, and they floated well once properly treated, at least according to the scrolls he had read. They were also prime material for crafting puppets, because once treated with with the proper chemicals it was very durable and tough. There were a number of vines growing, which he remembered had a good store of fresh, drinkable water, the grass, while seemingly normal reminded him of a sort that actually stored salt in it's blades, a rather important details. He had also noted a number of small blurs in the water, most likely fishes, if the several birds catching them were any indication. The island seemed to have almost everything one would need for survival, and even prosperity... if he found a vein of ore somewhere, he would be set for a long while. As if summoned, at that time he spotted Yugao's figure in the distance, waving for him to come. With a small, content grin, he did so.

Yugao was somewhat disappointed by how little she had found. If her senses were right, the island was roughly circular, and around three kilometers from one end to another... just big enough. She was waiting for Naruto, who was unsurprisingly slower than her... after all, the boy didn't have ANBU training to back him up on that account, but still, he was rather fast regardless. She had already made a small campsite, slightly withdrawn into the treeline, to remain invisible from the shore. Using a branch from a pine tree, she easily lit up the flame, after she used a fire jutsu to dry off the wood. Small survival tricks, but ones that made life much easier.

To her surprise, Naruto was carrying small berries, and other fruits gathered along the shoreline, and from her own education, all were edible.

"Well? Did you find anything?" She asked as they both sat down around the warm fire.

"Nothing. The right side was void of any life at all. You?" Naruto shortly reported.

"Apart from a few birds nothing. I think it's safe to say this island is uninhabited." Yugao added, bringing up her hands to the fire to chase away the cold that was setting in.

"How long do you think we should stay here?"

"Hmm... I'd say this island can support us for about four months, maybe five." Yugao started off "And we'll be staying that much. Your idea about working as mercenaries in Water Country was good Naruto, but you are still not ready for that, and I could use some training as well."

"So we stay here and train until then?" Naruto asked, receiving a nod in answer "What exactly did you have in mind?"

"First of all, I'll run you through basic ANBU training. You're good, but not good enough. Second, I noticed you use puppets. That means your control is up to scratch, right?"

"Tree walking, balancing, water walking and even a few other exercises I've read or developed myself. At this point I can project up to twenty chakra strings from any tenketsu on my body" Naruto confirmed.

"Good. Your capacity is still as insane as it was, so no need to train that yet."

"Physical training then?"

"That, and your reaction time is still not good enough" she added

"What about you?" Naruto asked, now genuinely curious.

"Hm. I have jounin level chakra control, chunin level capacity. I'm good with a sword" she continued, ignoring the slight chuckle Naruto let out at her comment on her sword skills "My taijutsu is decent, I know a few water jutsu, a few earth jutsu, along with a few others, basic anatomy, first aid, trap-making, basic sealing, demolition, use of poison, seduction, stealth, infiltration and of course, survival" she counted off her skills.

"Alright. I've got around genin level in taijutsu, hundred out of hundred accuracy in throwing, basic ninjutsu of every element, though I couldn't figure out my affinity. Several clone techniques too. As near to perfect chakra control as I can for my puppetry. The puppet skills themselves, though still limited, are improving on a daily level. Aside from that, let's see... encyclopedic knowledge of plants and their uses in preparation of medicine and poison. Advanced knowledge on chemistry, and it's applications to combat, including the making of explosives and mineral poisons. Decent woodworking and metalworking skills, sufficient to produce any basic tool or weapon. Basic survival training, and I can't think of anything else now. "

"Good. So we have some basic working material here." she commented, a finger finding it's way to her chin as she thought things over "What did you mean by you couldn't figure out your affinity?"

"Just watch" Naruto responded, rummaging through his pockets until he fond what he was looking for, a small remnant of a chakra testing paper. He placed it on his palm, channeling his own chakra into the paper... and the paper just glowed brightly for a few seconds and nothing more.

"See what I mean? Do you have any ideas?" Naruto asked, now curious if the girl had any suggestions.

Yugao stared at the paper. The display she had just seen meant one of two things. He was either completely incapable of using elemental chakra, which wasn't true... or he was simply unaligned, meaning he could use any elemental chakra, but not nearly as good as those who had strong affinities. For a jack of all trades that Naruto seemed to be however... it was a godsend.

"Let's just say your training will be fun" Yugao sweetly said, bringing about a slightly worried look from Naruto. Why did people have to speak in such a scary voice when making such comments?

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Several hours later, Yugao returned to the campsite to face something she didn't expect. She heard the sound of sobbing, a while before she reached camp, but the sight of Naruto Uzumaki crying as he desperately clutched a piece of paper in his hands, was still unnerving.

"Naruto?" she asked softly "What happened?"

The boy snapped his head back so fast she thought it would fly off.

"The letter" he muttered, his emotions coloring his voice "Everything, everything" he continued, spilling out nonsense, as his hands let go of the scroll he was holding. He was nervous, surprised, shocked... overloaded in more than one way. And she didn't have the faintest idea what to do. At that moment Naruto quieted down, turning back to the fire, and putting his arms around his knees.. He still sobbed , but was otherwise quiet.

It hurt her, she realized, seeing all of the walls Naruto built shattered like this. It reminded her of her own mostly empty childhood, of all she had lost over the years. Acting on instinct more than anything else, she moved, gently wrapping her arms around him, and whispering soothing words, trying her best to give him the message. She cared. Even if no one else in the entire world cared right now, she did. And... to her surprise, at that point she was sure that she not only did, but would.

He was surprised as he felt her arms circling about him. Why did she..? Could she have actually cared about him? Survival was one thing, but this? She had saved his life before, effectively giving up her own within Konoha. That act had bought her his unconditional friendship and loyalty

Yet the simple, gentle act spoke brought him more comfort than he believed possible. In that moment, when the walls he had built around his heart broke down, she was there for him, and she cared.

"Yugao?" he asked, voice still shaky.

"Yes?" she muttered, not moving a muscle

"Thank you" he responded, eyes slowly closing as he faded to sleep. He would protect her, no matter the price.

Sighing slightly as she let the boy down, putting him over a sleeping bag and tucking him in a bit, her eyes crossed the scroll left behind. Curiosity battled against her respect of his privacy, but in the end, she picked it up, and started reading.

_'To Naruto Uzumaki_

_I hope by the time you are reading this letter you are at least at a safe distance from Konoha. I have little doubt you already suffered hardships at the hands of your enemies, but I hope that you are still in good health._

_Regardless, it is time I revealed to you the secrets that have been held from you all these years. To be fair, I would have revealed these to you the day you graduated from the Academy, due to the laws offering protection, but back to the subject at hand._

_First, let me address the reason so many feared and or hated you. As you likely heard at the Academy, eleven years ago, the Kyuubi attacked Konoha and was killed by the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze at the cost of his life. That is a lie, fabricated to protect someone, namely you._

_As a Bijuu, the Kyuubi is immortal, and can't be simply killed or sealed into an object, or even an animal. No, as you likely already realize, the only choice is a living human, and a baby at that, for the newly formed chakra coils are the only ones capable of surviving the sealing. You, Naruto, are the jinchuriki of the Nine Tailed Fox, and the only reason Konoha stands to this day. Don't believe any fool that tells you otherwise. Added to the scroll are some of the papers on the Reaper Death Seal, the technique used to bind Kyuubi to you. It may or may not prove to be of assistance_

_The second truth I have to reveal is your parentage. Your father and mother, were respectively, Minato Namikaze and Uzumaki Kushina. Before you begin wondering, both are dead, and their bodies were never recovered, destroyed by the Kyuubi's malevolent energies. Kushina nearly died giving birth to you, only to die when one of the tails destroyed the hospital, while Minato died sealing the fox. I do not expect you to accept this without any rage, but before you decide anything, take into account what is the duty of a Hokage. The reason this was kept from you or anyone else, was simple. We did not have the resources to protect you, or risk provoking war with Iwa or Kumo, both of whom would very much want the only son of Minato Namikaze to die a painful death._

_Finally, we come to what was left behind for you. The home your parents wanted you to grow up in was destroyed in the attack, though I was able to salvage most of the important contents. In the storage seal at the bottom of the scroll are a number of others, each of them containing something for you._

_As a side note, be aware that Jiraya of the Sannin will likely come searching for you once he finds out about your 'exile'. He was my pupil and your father's sensei, so I think it would be safe to trust him, though I be careful, as the man is a complete pervert, but he might prove to be a valuable ally to you, as he is a good man._

_And before I finish this letter, I thought you should know. The fake treason you were set up with was not motivated by hatred for your status as jinchuriki, rather, it was inspired by greed and lust for power. Your power. If it brings some measure of satisfaction, know that I have already begun a suitable retribution. Should you one day decide to return here to Konoha, I promise you that you will be pleasantly surprised._

_May the gods watch over you Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, and take good care of Yugao._

_Hiruzen Sarutobi'_

She smiled sadly once more as she finished reading the letter. How much guilt did Sarutobi Hiruzen feel to write so much to the boy? How much did he truly care for him to do this much? Her eyes moved to the seal at the bottom of the scroll, the Sarutobi family crest, functioning as a storage seal. She knew that he likely set it up using Naruto's blood, so she carefully rolled it up, and replaced it in it's safe spot in Naruto's vest, before she herself went to sleep, leaving a pair of shadow clones to keep watch.

_(Next morning)_

Yugao woke up to the welcome smell and sound of food being prepared. She slowly opened her eyes, mildly surprised to notice Naruto preparing meat, while several sticks with fish were roasting over the fire. His eyes were still red from all the crying last night, but they possessed another quality now. The deep blue eyes burned with a determination she hadn't seen there before... no, she had, but it wasn't like this before. He had set a goal for himself, and if the look was anything to go by... he would accomplish it.

"Hey, you're awake" he almost cheerfully stated "Want something to eat?"

"Yeah" Yugao answered, still slightly sleepy as Naruto passed over a stick with fish on it.

"Good, I'm already done eating." he continued, putting up the meat over the fire, before cleaning his hands off and picking up a scroll he had obviously been reading for a while, using a pen she had no idea where he pulled out of to mark parts as he mumbled... she could barely recognized some of the terms he used a few nights back. He was planing, most likely a new puppet, if the second piece of paper with a rough sketch of some arachnid creature was any indication.

"Naruto, about last night..." she started, a slight twinge of guilt driving her to ask him about the scroll.

"I found the scroll in my pocket... you read it right?" he asked, not for a second moving his eyes from the scroll beneath him

"I did."

"Good. I think it's better not to keep secrets between us" he stated quickly, and that brought a rather surprised look to her face. "Don't get me wrong, I understand that a ninja's life depends on keeping secrets, however... I also feel that I can trust you, and I've learned not to doubt my feelings."

In truth, Naruto was glad that she knew everything now, even if she had read what was a personal letter without his permission. Yugao was the only person aside from himself he could rely on now, and a small token of trust went a long way between partners.

"Well then, now that that's out of the way, shall we begin training?" he asked with a slight grin on his face. It wasn't the childish one he wore a long time ago, nor the mischievous one he carried when he would now and then pull a prank on someone. Now, that grin spoke of a confidence based on his knowledge and skill, as well as his drive to succeed. Yugao could only nod shortly as she wondered just what she had gotten herself into while biting on her piece of fish.

_(Six months later, 08:30, Water Country, port city of Habuse)_

The morning mist covered the majority of the small town. The city of Habuse was a rather interesting point within Water country's civil war. It was also the capitol of the country, and the only place where there was a bit of civility left. After the death of the previous daimyo, his illegitimate daughter Marusei Tokari assumed control over the city, and though she couldn't take the throne, most of the guard was loyal to her. There was little doubt that should she survive the war, she would be the next Daimyo.

Outside the sanctuary that was Habuse, two powerful factions waged war, one side lead by a mysterious man known simply as Ghost while the other was led by the shinobi Mei Terumi.

The two groups clashed throughout the country on a daily basis... and beneath the smokescreen of their fights, a number of criminal organizations struggled for dominance as well, charting paths through the bloodshed while trading in drugs, weapons and slaves. It was a harsh world, one where only those strong enough to survive did so.

Though one auburn haired individual had different plans, as he sat atop the roof of the abandoned storage yard he and his partner had just 'inhabited'.

"Mezuro!" came the shout from inside

"Up here!" Mezuro shouted back, replaying his plans for the coming months in his mind. A month ago Naruto Uzumaki and Yugao Uzuki had vanished of the face of the earth, replaced by Mezuro Kaichi and Tenre Kasadi. Naruto had died his hair brown, and to his great pleasure, found a number of colored contact lenses among the equipment Yugao had with her, opting for now to have his eyes colored a light green. A bit of work concealed the whisker marks, but he kept most of his clothes, mostly changing the color patterns into pure black. Yugao, or Tenre as she called herself now, had cut her purple hair shortly, leaving just a single long braid running down. The hair was still purple, though her eyes were now black. Her old uniform and clothes were mostly gone, traded off or thrown away, and replaced by new ones. At Naruto's advice, she took a slightly more risque look, she was wearing tight, but flexible gray pants along with a short, sleeveless black top that ended just over her belly button, as well as a dark gray jacket over it.. Her right hand was covered with a number of tribal tattoos, and she was carrying her new katana, a rather large blade that was currently over her shoulders, used as an armrest.

Soundlessly, the former ANBU operative leaped on the roof, taking a curious look at her partner.

"So, what did you find?" Naruto asked

"Escort work. A small group of five are leaving Habuse in four hours and are looking for bodyguards." Yugao responded

"Destination?"

"A meeting point some five kilometers to the northeast, along the coastal route" she explained

"Sound good. You took the job right?"he asked, propping himself up on his elbows and looking at the girl with curiosity as she sat down next to him

"Yeah, I did. It should cover our needs for a month. Basic needs" she insisted upon seeing Naruto's grin. So far she had learned one thing about Naruto... and that was letting him shop freely was a disaster in the making.

"Pack your bags Mezuro, we still have some work to do beforehand" she ordered, gently stroking the handle of her blade as she turned to the sea

"Yes ma'am!" Naruto mock saluted as he jumped off, using the edge of the roof to land on the second floor office where his things were.

Yugao grumbled slightly at the noise he was raising inside, comforting herself with the fact that once he started working he would get serious. Probably.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** And cut. That's it, end of part one of the story. Things will change from now on, and now, Naruto has a plan and a goal (both unrevealed yet). Throughout the next several chapters I will reveal more about the civil war in Water country, and how it relates to the protagonists of the story. Also, at some point there will be talk about the events in Konoha, and other things.

I do hope that I did the letter right... somehow that part didn't usually come out well... must by my lack of letter-writing experience. Oh well...

Read and review folks...


	5. Work and Future Plans

**Author's Ramblings:** New chapter... surprising, no? :P

You are about to notice some of Naruto's personality quirks, among them, the way his puppets look and act. The minute, unnecessary motions the puppets make are only partially conscious on Naruto's account... they are something of a developed reflex as he actually makes them seem lifelike to confuse his enemies. The actual actions they make are either Naruto not wanting to bother, or hims trying the same as above. He will also often refer to puppets by 'name' in public, and they will respond by action.

A some of you might have noticed, Habuse was somewhat inspired by the fictional city of Roanapur from Black Lagoon, but mostly as a dark, seedy place where crime, drugs and the like are nothing new. Well, enough about it. Enjoy the chapter

* * *

_Chapter 5 : Work and Future Plans_

The seven figures walked quickly in the faint noon sun. The early onset of winter brought forth colder winds, though the mist remained unabated, a sobering reminder to the two bodyguards just why the hidden village of water country bore it's name.

The four they were escorting were traders, unusually enough, working with normal goods, rather than the lucrative ones, mainly silk, cotton and spices, goods in high demand throughout Habuse. Personally, they were carrying very little, apart from the travel documents, which in themselves was enough to get killed over, and other documents relating to a trading deal they were going to sign.

Naruto and Yugao stuck to the sides of the group, the third figure that walked belonging to Naruto's puppet, the Guardian, now dressed in a dark, billowing robe with a large straw hat covering a masked face and a large naginata strapped to his back. The merchants, as well as any potential enemy would think him nothing more than simply someone who wanted to keep his identity secret, something normal in these turbulent times, and would doubtfully be able to identify him as a puppet, even if they had an idea that something was wrong. He had sparred with Yugao enough times to make the motions of the naginata as natural as possible, and as effective as possible, while still enforced with a number of fiendish devices meant to kill, maim or disable.

Naruto Uzumaki, alias Mezuro Kaichi operated along a very simple principle... if your enemy underestimates you... don't give him the time to regret that decision. If he doesn't, bring to bear against him as much firepower as you can afford. The less your enemies can predict, the more off their reaction will be.

Yugao watched her two years younger partner with a mixture of pride and curiosity. For six months she drilled him, and in turn, he helped her train and improve.... but there were a few things that unnerved her. First was the way he trained himself, something that she, even with all her effort couldn't match. What had a started as a hundred pushups and pullups quickly ballooned into a training regiment Maito Gai would be proud of. He acted with purpose, planning and plotting his path, asking her for help in specific things. The basic training she put him through was done in less than a week.

The other was the fact that she was sure that he had made a plan of some sort, though she hadn't found an opportune moment to speak about it.

The last one was the way he acted. Towards her, and towards small children, he acted warmly, friendly, but towards anyone else, he was cold, hard, cynical, distrusting. As if he built a wall around those he held close and didn't want to let outsiders in.

A slight twitch on her sleeve brought her from her thoughts. Naruto was reminding her that she shouldn't drop her guard by using a completely invisible string of chakra attached to her sleeve... one that he would detach as soon as fighting began. She gently pulled on her sleeve, which was the agreed upon response, sending a weak, but perceptible signal back.

They walked on, taking the well-used path that followed the coast. The landscape was unsurprisingly barren... after all, little could grow on pure rock, but it also left precious little room for ambushes... though both knew that Mist had spawned more than a few ninja well versed in underwater combat.. Yugao from her training, and Naruto from the fact that she drilled every bit of information either of them had available about Water country into his skull.

So both kept close guard on the sides and back, ignoring the sound of their feet hitting the small puddles of water scattered over the road. In front, the silent figure of Naruto's only unsealed puppet walked on, now using the long handle of the naginata as a walking stick while brushing off some dust of his robe. It was those little quirks, Naruto realized early on, that fooled people, and he wanted them fooled. All it took to stop someone in combat was one moment...

The four merchants walking to his right were.. irritating to say the least. They were loud, slow and remarkably foolish, discussing their finances like this in the open. While he personally didn't give a damn as to what happened to them, he decided that they should survive, otherwise it would look bad on their record... in Habuse, rumors spread like wildfire, and if they messed up, chances were they would be hard pressed to find a new job, a luxury they didn't have. So he watched like a hawk, using every trick he could think of to make sure that these four sheep (as far as any shinobi was concerned) arrived safe to their destination.

His hopes however, would be dashed quickly.

All the instincts he had developed over the several years of training, while nothing compared to veterans, were enough to notice and alert him to a projectile coming straight at him.

Yugao was looking to her right, almost expecting someone to pop out from the rocky shore. It was a small stretch of land that connected the two islands like a bridge, artificially built during the times that Water country was still a growing, prosperous land. Her eyes widened instantly when she felt the far stronger tug that came over the string... one that had her immediately grasping her sword as she head Naruto yell

"Duck! Tenre, Kisagi cover the clients!" he ordered, hands instantly armed with a kunai in one hand, and a pair of shuriken in the other. That was a crossbow bolt that he narrowly dodged, and it came from the water rather than the shore. The four merchants were now covering in the middle of the road while Naruto, Yugao and the puppet assumed a close defensive formation around them. Neither he nor Yugao could notice their attackers... until they both noticed a veritable hail of projectiles coming their way. Without saying anything, Naruto and Yugao grabbed a merchant each, while the Guardian moved to hoist the remaining two over his shoulders, all three of them moving further along the road to dodge the numerous kunai, shuriken, spears and other, less easily discerned objects that now dotted the ground, leaving small holes in the stone. What was concerning though, was the fact that they all melted away into water seconds later, without revealing the attacker, again. And this time, the projectiles came from the direction they came from, which meant land. Likely there were two attackers.

A strange, tense silence engulfed the area, interrupted only by the sounds of breathing and waves crashing against the rocks.

"Two?" Naruto asked his partner, and unconsciously made the puppet nod. Yugao quickly shook her head in agreement while whispering back

"I'd guess three most likely" she whispered, preparing herself for an attack from any of the directions not already used. Naruto deferred to her judgment as a more experienced ninja. Yugao always knew what she was talking about, so he kept his guard up and prepared to retaliate as soon as the enemies revealed themselves, because for now... he had no other option.

"Mezuro, remember that trick you showed me last time?" Yugao quietly asked, and received a nod in return.

"Now's the time to use it" she continued, and Naruto felt the need to slam a palm to his head for being such an idiot. Still, it took him months to figure it out, but it was a good opportunity for a field test.

He quickly threw the kunai into the mist before his hands moved through the several handseals he still required for it. He felt the backward tug ash he decided his new position, and the shadow that instantly reformed in his place as the real him was pulled by the high speed shunshin to another location. Afterimaging, the one skill he really wanted to master even during his days back in Konoha, but lacked the proper skills. Shadow clones were ideal for it, and the fact that one of the scrolls that Sarutobi had packed had a plethora of tricks with that specific jutsu helped out greatly. The clone left behind knew it's job, stay close, and run the puppet. Yugao would have done the same, but she never managed to pull it off in the same, completely undetectable way Naruto did.

He quieted down as he landed on the ground, some twenty meters away from his group. He didn't know just how they were being tracked, but he couldn't risk anything. One of the seals he had found worked with suppressing chakra... though it couldn't work on him, a slight (and accidental) modification gave it a rather entertaining purpose. It kept his impressive reserves from leaking out and making him pretty much invisible to anyone but a diehard tracker in that account. Combined with his silent water walking, he was ready to begin the counterattack. He only hoped it would not be too late.

Yugao was keeping herself calm. The shadow clone near her was nothing to be underestimated, she had learned that herself the hard way. The real Naruto should be nearing whoever was attacking them so far.

The location of her opponents was impossible to discern, and their tactics were brilliant, though she still wondered just how they knew exactly where her team and clients were. No attacks had come for almost twenty seconds now, and every second passed like an eternity to her. Even her sensei back home agreed that she was never good at these waiting games, except when it came to swordsmanship. There her pride and stubbornness did the job just as well.

Her tension reached it's peak as she heard the ever-so-slight sound of sizzling paper, and recognized it as the signal that things were about to go even crazier.

Naruto kept his face calm as the bloodied corpse of what he assumed was likely a chunin level ninja flew towards the road, bones shattered by the explosion and rain of water and blood that was now already behind him. He was grateful for the mist, for while it offered cover to his enemies... it also granted him the option to hunt them down invisibly from it's embrace. An open fight, he could likely win, but it would take time... something that would likely be labeled as 'unsubtle assassination' tactics were more to his advantage. Inwardly he grinned as he picked up a strong scent belonging to one of the enemies... that of crude oil.

Even strong scent of the sea, such things were perceptible to him, it was only a mater of training to extend the range at which he could perceive the scent, and track it down to it's point of origin.

Putting up his hands into the handseal meant for the shadow clone jutsu, he created a small puff of smoke, an instantly dismissed clone, his own equivalent to a communication method, as the memory of his current plan was instantly fed to the other clone and hence to Yugao. He had no trace of the third enemy... yet.

Focusing all strength on the task at hand, Naruto silently pulled out a scroll from his vest, rapidly smearing blood on the surface of the paper. Time to stop playing around.

The barely perceptible twitch of the Naruto-clone's eye was the only indication that anyone would get as to the change that was about to happen.

"Third. Find and kill" Naruto quickly ordered, and Yugao nodded, immediately breaking into a run towards the location she expected the third opponent to be. At the same time the clone moved to the front of the quartet of frightened merchants, idly counting off how long this fight had lasted. Thirty-five seconds.

She grasped the hilt of her sword, furiously pulling out the long blade as she prepared to attack the one place where she noticed her opponent move for a short moment. It was little more than a glance, but there was a reason why Yugao managed to become ANBU at such a young age. The man, or at least she thought it was one, not bothering to waste mental capacity on such unimportant maters right now, was shocked at the ease with which she found him. He had probably expected for them to stay glued to their clients, and for his two partners to pellet them with projectiles the whole time, while he remained hidden, dealing the final blow once their guard was down.

He never got the chance as a nimble blow parted his head from his shoulders. Had he stayed alive a few seconds longer, he would have heard the loud scream of his third partner, as he was, unknown to him, electrocuted into unconsciousness. It was over.

The merchants watched in a mixture of horror and awe as Naruto pulled two bodies out of the mist, the first, a burned corpse, the other, a visibly shocked, but alive body. On the other hand Yugao brought a beheaded corpse, the head having rolled away... somewhere.

'Kisagi' brutally slapped the still living one a few times, apparently hoping to bring him out of his unconsciousness, but failed.

"So Tenre, you look like you had fun" Naruto calmly stated, rummaging through the belongings of the charred enemy. It was only common sense not to let equipment go to waste, and besides, he might have something unusual on him.

"Look who's talking" she grinned back at him, unperturbed by the fact that his face remained set in stone "Ranks?"

"One chunin and two genin if I had to guess. Still, unusually well equipped" he offered back, showing off a bracer with a crossbow constructed around it. "I'll be taking this as my part. Anything interesting on your side?"

"Naah. A bottle of sake though. Everything else is useless. No paper trail, no indications. Mercs like us most likely"

"Likely. So dear clients" Naruto spoke, turning towards the four still frightened merchants "any ideas who is after you? Did you piss off someone that badly?"

One of them, the apparent leader of the group got up from their relatively safe spot on the floor.

"N-no... we kept our business fair and square. We even pay the protection fee to the pirates!" he finally finished. Both understood what he meant by the last part... the pirates here were organized enough to form a true faction of their own, however, they were uninterested in actual political power, their unknown leader content with making a decent bit of profit. Any merchant who paid the dues the leader set up to one of his agents would not be attacked by the pirate ships... and any outsiders who dared to attack any of the ships under their 'protection' soon found themselves relaxing at the bottom of the sea. A harsh world, with harsh rules that were brutally enforced. These fools were most likely freelancers then.

"If that's true, we shouldn't encounter any further opposition during our trip... but just to be on the safe side, Tenre, would you politely ask the man what he has to say about it?" Naruto flatly asked.

"Hai... you just give me a few minutes, and I'll be back." Yugao responded.

The leader of the merchants, Tamaho Kemeri looked at the group strangely. Usually mercenaries followed a set chain of command, but here, things were weird. The leader was obviously Mezuro as he was the one giving the orders, while the two older ninja followed them without question. The man Mezuro referred to as Kisagi hadn't spoken a word since their journey began, and he didn't fight much either. However, his very presence was utterly unnerving. Finally, Tenre, the only obvious woman on the team was carrying a large katana over her shoulders, constantly using it as a rest for her arms and chewing on a straw half the time. And yet, when trouble came, these three didn't panic for a moment, instead working like a well-oiled fighting machine, quickly and brutally taking out their three attackers.

Tamaho wasn't a fool, he had more than a bit of experience concerning ninja, and these three had no insignia that would tie them to any village, meaning they were most likely ronnin, ninja who trained outside the classic village system. Of all the people in the business, these were generally the most unpredictable... and at times the most dangerous.(_**1**_)

And this time, the team was willing to work for what he knew was a rather low pay. He made a mental note to give them a bonus should the trade agreement go through.

Naruto remained silent as he sat down into a meditative position and waited for Yugao to finish her friendly conversation with the enemy. He stilled his muscles to stop the coming shivers at the fact that he had killed again. Two months ago, he had killed for the first time, a bandit on a small island relatively close to their own, during one of their shorter visits for supplies they couldn't make or adapt for. He remembered what Yugao told him. '_Look him in the eyes as his life leaves him. Know that you took his life, and know that this death saved someone's life, if only yours. Respect the life you took, if only for those who suffered so that it would continue._'

He asked her whether the pain he felt, the sorrow that shook him, the shivers up his spine would end, and he still remembered how she shook her head answering that they will fade over time, but that he shouldn't enjoy killing. As long as there is even a twinge of regret for the deaths instead of pleasure... he was still human.

_'Four'_ he counted in his head, before turning his attention to the crossbow he had salvaged. Burnt and melted in places from the explosion, to his pleasure, most of the original mechanism was still operational. At least that would bring some fun.

_(20:00, Habuse, confiscated warehouse )_

Yugao sighed as she finished making the calculations on their budget... which was sorely limited, even with the cash they earned today... just enough to cover the price of buying the small warehouse along with the land it was on, and leaving them with enough to cover food for the next few days... she could only be grateful that Naruto was busy fishing and that he could cover a part of their expenditures that way.

Thankfully, Habuse was a city of politics, and even if the two of them were virtually unknown there, the fine job they did with the merchants would help them out with their reputation during the coming days... a crucial thing for any mercenary. But the weird part was how much Naruto was delighted by a simple crossbow. She couldn't really believe that he hadn't come across one before, as they, while not that common, were still widely used. _'The mechanism' _she realized, chuckling. He could be such a kid at times.

Taking a sip from the freshly liberated bottle of sake, she resealed the papers and packed them up. A city of politics thrived on information, and therefore, espionage and theft. One did not leave things simply lying about, and she was sure to remind Naruto of that at every opportunity.

But now, she would kill for a good meal, and Tamaho had recommended a local tavern for their excellent and well priced roast. She was itching for some creature comforts.

Naruto on the other hand was unusually relaxed, his mind lost in the myriad ideas he had while a piece of string was attached to the toe on his foot, the bait for a fish he wasn't overly enthusiastic about catching. It was something to pass the time as he lazed at the dock, a straw hat he nicked off of his puppet covering most of his face. But only a fool would assume he wasn't on his guard. Yugao had impressed upon him (at times quite literally, with her fist) that he should_ not_ drop his guard here, and he was more than inclined to listen.

He had realized one very interesting thing during his training with Yugao. The things he learned from the scrolls were in some cases, for the lack of a better term, outdated. Some of the tricks for chakra control were no longer in use, replaced by what was believed to be better practices, some jutsu as well. Several medical herbs were no longer used as it was later discovered that they slowly poisoned the body (that one had him rechecking every single tincture and ointment he had with him.), as well as many others. Unsurprisingly, the details on tactics, metallurgy, woodworking were first class, easily matching those that the contractors who delivered for ANBU used, at least according to Yugao, and when he compared her weapons to the ones he had made, the quality was at least equal, though his own tools were more... specialized.

Then, there was the subject of Kyuubi... the fox that so far hadn't made any sign of existence other than the side effects of the seal, such as his whisker marks and the fact that he healed much faster. Now that he thought about it actively, he remembered the fact that he was never cold and the fact that he never got sick. But, if there wasn't a big damn seal on his stomach, he'd have no way of knowing for sure that there was the mightiest of all the bijuu trapped somewhere in him.

He heard the door not far from him slam, and lifted the rim of his hat to notice that it was dark already. Just how the hell did he spend the better part of four hours daydreaming and fishing?

Shaking his head in defeat he got up, removing the fishing utensil he had used so far, and putting on his footwear. Water country was visibly colder than he was used to in Konoha but it wasn't by much, and to him, it didn't really mater that much.

"You look like you have plans for tonight Tenre" he stated, his eyebrows quirked in a rather rare (for him at least) show of emotion.

"Yep, and you're coming with me. We're going to celebrate our first successful job here" Yugao retorted, a wide smile on her face.

"That sounds... interesting" he commented, picking up the empty fish bucket that stood nearby, before sighing, and throwing it towards the warehouse. There were things people didn't bother to steal.

"So, when do we leave?" he asked curiously as the two of them walked on.

The tavern, named 'the Silver Carp' was a rather pleasant place. Built beneath the ground level, with a single stairway serving as the only entrance, it's low row was obscured by the fine smoke of many lit cigars and saturated with the smell of roast meat as well as fish soup, both mouthwatering fresh. The pair settled down in one of the corners, content to retain some privacy.

The tavern-keeper, a burly man in his early forties soon came, and after a short discussion, both ordered a decent amount of food to be shared between them..

Naruto however, was enjoying not only the food and the atmosphere. At a table near them were a number of merchants, and with them, a few mercenaries as well. And their talk about a person named Gato, and his interests in several small areas. The man was apparently a shipping tycoon, though that served as a front for his cartel, as he, just like almost every other well standing criminal dealt in one of the three, his choice were slaves. The area of most interest to this... businessman was a small country at the border of Water country, named Wave. That interested him little.... he knew his limitations and facing a powerful and influential criminal and his legion of cronies in battle was beyond the scope of his abilities for now, but what really interested him was the amount of money the man possessed... and his mind went through the myriad (and utterly useless, thanks to his lack of knowledge on the subject) ways to 'liberate' said capital for his and Yugao's use. Besides, he didn't have much fondness for slavers. Such blatant disregard for life was something disgusting to him, even with the conundrum of such words coming from a paid killer that he in essence was.

What was his reason for doing what he did? He had no great, noble goal in mind that would justify what he was doing. Apart from becoming the world's greatest puppeteer, something he had decided to do in tribute to the man who left so much for him. But other than that.... what did he want to do? His eyes turned to his partner who was eating, oblivious to the thought process going through his head. He wanted to protect her, he realized. Not shut her in some cage and stand guard over it, but let her experience life as she wanted it, and merely be there to ensure she didn't get herself killed by a kunai to the back of the head.

But there was another thing... something that had been brewing in his mind for a while now. As he was no longer in Konoha, nor with an opportunity to become a Leaf ninja, he had forsaken his old dream of becoming Hokage. He realized that his own strength, no matter how powerful he became would never be enough... so why not gather a group? They had started out as mercenaries.... what about a larger mercenary company? Or better yet... oh _that_ idea would work, but it would take time and planning. And Gato's money would go a long way in that direction. But no, the two of them alone wouldn't be able to pull it off. With a few more years of experience, perhaps, but just like this no. Deciding on a course of action, Naruto promised himself that he would keep his eyes open for potential allies from now on. That, and he'd have to start checking the few puppet scrolls he had avoided reading so far. The plans and designs for the Collection were among them.

Yugao, even though she wasn't obviously paying any attention was slightly worried for Naruto who had seemingly spaced out, though the content, if slightly serious look he bore as he munched on a piece of meat was any indication, he was once more planning. She had learned much about Naruto's mannerisms during the five months spent training. When he made a plan he wold usually lounge like that, face twisted by the obscure and unreadable thoughts that happened behind the clouded veil that were his eyes, while the rest of the body moved on auto-pilot, doing whatever it was doing. The disturbing part was, that it could continue doing _absolutely anything_. Once she even caught him making fixes to the firing mechanisms in his puppet while spacing out, and it was in perfect condition once he finished. She mused whether it was actually possible to have muscle memory to that level.

"Hey, Mezuro?" she probed, trying to catch his attention.

"Hmm?" Naruto retorted shortly, not really paying that much attention and picking up the cup of water he had been drinking.

"I've been thinking about tattooing my breasts. What do you think?" she asked casually, barely holding her laughter in once Naruto's thought process came to a grinding halt when what she assumed was the image of said scene popped up, causing Naruto to nearly choke on the water. He glared back at her once he regained control

"You did that on purpose..." he growled, but the slightly peeved expression was soon replaced by a smirk, one that promised mischief and sent shivers up Yugao's spine

"Do something stupid, and I'll _make you regret it_" she threatened instantly, quite literally afraid of ending up a the target of a prank from Naruto. After he described some of the things he pulled over the years, including the exploding trap he had set up in his old workshop, she decided that she did not want to play a target to his cunning and devious mind.

"Who said I wold do anything _stupid,_ hmmm Tenre-chan?" Naruto purred back. Yugao was once more uncertain what he was going to do, but she knew that there would be a number of sleepless nights thanks to it... she just had to shoot of her mouth, especially now that she knew she had no leverage to stop him.

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Naruto woke up with a groan, shaking his head from yet another nightmare... not that he could remember just what he had dreamed. Since they now owned the small warehouse, it was no longer an issue whether they were stay there for the night or not. But still, he was surprised to notice that Yugao hadn't caught much sleep, still going over some of her papers. Did he really fool her with the teasing? And to think that he was just messing around. Still, her growing interest in improving her skills was something he wholeheartedly supported, even if she was working only on theory right now.

Rubbing his eyes, he looked out the window, mildly annoyed to note that the sun was just rising... so it was between six and seven in the morning. He sighed, noting that he could have used a bit more sleep as he picked his shirt and pants, dressing himself quickly and efficiently before donning the sandals he wore outside of work and the black vest he loved. He decided it was time for breakfast, and if their rather pitiful store of food was any indication... he'd have to go fishing, and seriously this time. '_How... troublesome.' _he thought, his mind running back to more peaceful days back in Konoha... to his old friends. He wondered how they were doing.

He knew Yugao would be leaving the warehouse in a few minutes to go and find them some work, most likely another escort job, or a short bandit hunting mission. He would be patient.... he hoped.

Yugao sighed for the hundredth time since Naruto left to sleep last night. She just couldn't shake the feeling that he was plotting something, a nasty little revenge for that joke last night. He wasn't the vindictive type, but he could be remarkably stubborn at times. She still shivered at the memory of the 'incident' when she 'accidentally' dropped the last incredibly hot pepper she had in her supplies... though she couldn't for the life of her remember just why she had it there, she used it. The revenge was... best described as quick, sharp and brutal.

She kept her mind from it by focusing on the few pieces of paper that contained her notes on improving her sword skills, namely, by trying to integrate ninjutsu and genjutsu into it.

It was then that she realized that she had spent the better part of six hours working on it and that Naruto had just woken up. He would likely go and catch something for breakfast, as their supplies were nonexistent at best. Why again didn't they stock on food back on that island before they left? At times she wondered if the shinobi traded common sense for chakra at birth...

Still, it was part for her to do her part of the job, and that was go out and find them another. Money didn't grow on trees, and they were strapped for cash now. Picking up her jacket and fantasizing about a cup of warm, pleasant coffee, she walked out of the warehouse office that doubled as their apartment, making sure to pick up everything important she had as she did so.

"Oi! Mezuro! I'm going out. Try and catch us some fish for lunch"

"I hear ya!" Naruto responded to her shout. He was thankful that it was still early autumn and that it wasn't too cold to fish. Winter would soon be there, and if they didn't have a good source of income till then, there would be problems.

So, he calmed down, focusing his mind on one of a number of problems he had and waited for the fish to start biting.

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**Author's Notes: **I know, shorter chapter than usual, but I can't really cram anything more meaningful here. Just enjoy the fact that two chapters came out within such a short timespan as it's unlikely to happen again.

Read, review, give me your thoughts on the story.

Oh, and I'll wait for the next chapter to full reveal Naruto's newest puppet, along with a full profile on it.


	6. The Practical Application of Explosives

**Author's Ramblings:** My muse has apparently decided to favor this story for the time being as the words seem to flow like water. That doesn't mean I've abandoned my other stories (God forbid), but that for the time being, while this wave inspiration lasts, I'll be popping out chapters for this story faster than usual. Also, the name of the chapter is more of a joke than anything else, but what the heck. I can mess around at times, right? :D

Now, to the story. I have little of importance to note about this chapter that wouldn't spoil the fun, though I've decided to give some background info on important OCs that pop up throughout the story. There will be a profile on the bottom of the page.

Also, as to the concerns of some. Jiraya and Tsunade will both be making appearances, but not for a while longer. Also, politics are soon going to be a factor through the story, and the next chapter will likely hold at least a short snippet about Konoha... or I'll leave the whole deal for my dealing with Wave and Gato. Don't know yet. Just thought you might wanna know :P

And strangely enough, over a hundred reviews, and not a single flamer yet! I don't know whether to feel proud or worried :P

That's about it. Enjoy the story

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_Chapter 6 : The Practical Application of Explosives  
_

Yugao took the opportunity to curse. Loudly. Oh she did get them a new job, better yet, a well paying one, even though the risks were higher than in the last one. Even better, she found a good store that sold most of the basic supplies they would need to keep working on the way back. She even found a golden coin!

So why, you ay ask, was she cursing? That part at least was simple. Naruto had actually managed to catch a fish. Scratch that **the** fish. How he did that was still beyond her, but in front of their small dockside warehouse was a freaking large swordfish, and Naruto standing like the proud fisherman he was, with one foot on it's head with a silly looking hat she had no idea where he got from and a straw in his mouth (likewise), smiling for the captive audience which consisted of various other local fishermen.

Now, not even that fully explained the reason for her curses... no, the reason was that she would most likely have to _clean and prepare_ at least a half of that fish. Half of a three meter long swordfish...

How the hell did that thing even get so close to shore?

"Hey Tenre! Look what I caught!" he jokingly shouted at his partner, and Yugao resisted the urge to groan. Noting her discomfort, he merely laughed, realizing what she had to be fussing about.

"No worries, I'll be cleaning it. Since the guys here helped me, we'll be making barbequed swordfish steaks for lunch. Interested?"

She could only sigh contently... perhaps the day wasn't going to be so bad after all.

Two hours later, after a small army of clones had finished cleaning and cutting up the meat according to the instructions of the present fisherman, the others wheeled in a portable barbeque, and the feast begun. Since they were making the food near the warehouse, no one caused any problems, and while Yugao and Naruto both kept watch so that something wouldn't go wrong, and for the case that some of the fishermen weren't fishermen, no trouble cropped up, much to their pleasure. Surprisingly to them, the swordfish meat was excellent, and the remains were recommended to be used for soup, something that made Naruto's mouth water at the very thought. To Yugao's pleasure, Naruto was becoming quite the cook, likely from the more than limited resources during their stay on an isolated island.

After the small crowd finally parted with promises of a repeat performance soon to come, Naruto and Yugao where left alone to discuss work.

"Had fun?" Naruto asked, an unusually warm undertone to his voice. He had enjoyed himself immensely today

"Actually, yeah. I did." she responded, using a senbon needle to pick her teeth. "Still, we have work to do... again. A clean up job this time..."

"Oh? That sounds interesting. Tell me more" Naruto commented, raking a rather.. unique looking device into his hands and tinkering with it's mechanisms. For a moment, Yugao stayed silent to inspect just what Naruto was working with. A small metal cylinder, about a foot long, opened on the side and containing two openings on the back, and one nozzle on the front

"What are you fiddling with now Mezuro?" she asked, knowing it better to figure out before something went kaboom during a mission.

"I'm working on improving the gas release nozzle. The old one had a delay of half a second, but I got an idea from that crossbow I got yesterday... now it will have no delay, and I can switch between flammable and knockout gas"

"Hence the two canisters there"

"Exactly!" Naruto replied excitedly "You're picking up"

"Kinda hard not to, with you explaining in small detail" she retorted "As for the job, we're supposed to raid a smuggler ship that will be docked near Meschia village tomorrow morning. The target is a large shipment of a new, highly addictive drug. Our job is to get rid of the crew and captain, as well as destroy the drugs in any way we deem fit. The village is about six hours to the south by boat, or if you're in the mood, two hours running on water. Though I'd suggest the second one. I need some practice"

"Sure, why not?" Naruto spoke back, arms set about in a gesture of defeat. "When do we leave?"

"Whenever we want today. The ship will dock around sunrise tomorrow, so as long as we're there to sink it we're fine."

"What about the loot on board?" Naruto curiously asked, raising a valid concern. After all, there could be useful goods for both of them on it. Yugao smiled back, as if knowing something he didn't... which she did

"We get to keep whatever we can carry except for the drugs they smuggle. The ship itself, weapons, supplies, even slaves..." she stated, finishing the last part darkly.

"Well cross that bridge when we get there Tenre" Naruto comfortingly stated "If we can, we'll help them out, if not, we'll at least make sure they don't suffer anymore. By the way, who' financing the mission?"

"A local... representative, as it were, of the pirates. I did some digging around, and he's legit" Yugao stated, preparing a few more kunai and shuriken for her own set of equipment.

"Interesting" was the only thing Naruto returned as he focused once more on his gadgets. They wouldn't leave before nightfall regardless. Strangely enough, travel during the night was much safer, especially for Shinobi mercenaries, mostly because it attracted less attention, and the authorities were less interested in bothering them. That, and they didn't disrupt the fishing lanes.

Content with the small machine, he walked over to the only locked room in the entire warehouse... his workshop. Yugao had one key safely hidden in her belongings, and the other never left his side. Carefully opening the door to the relatively cramped, windowless room, he walked over to the mechanical body of his first and favorite puppet. He Guardian was simple in it's design, a combat puppet enforced with a number of additional tools, such as the gas release he was just about to set back in. On the only other table was the other puppet he had recently finished, a purely metal spider named Thunder Weaver, for it's ability to combine ninja wire webs and strands with high-voltage shocks. The 'legs' ended in sharp blades that could easily pierce rock let alone flesh, and the head contained an air-pressure powered acid shooter. It wasn't strong enough to instantly dissolve flesh, but shot in the face or at a weak point... the effects would be instantaneous. With an unreadable face, he took the canister and replaced it in it's slot. Quickly following that, a number of strings made their appearance, shutting all the slots close on both puppets and pulling out the two scrolls that stored them from his vest. Over the several years of near constant practice (just because others couldn't see it, didn't mean that Naruto wasn't doing it), Naruto's command over his chakra strings was exemplary, going to the point that he used them as an alternative to hands and tools where neither could reach, or even as additional limbs, though their strength was limited. The ability to project the strings from nearly any point on his body was something he was almost proud of, however, he remembered his sensei's teachings too well.

If he let himself, pride could easily become his downfall. Sadly for his opponents, very few today still followed the ninja codes of old, letting themselves be blinded by their emotions and such foolish things as fighting fairly. He realized though, that he was fast becoming a living contradiction, both within ethics and rules he aimed to follow. A ninja was the tool of his country, and yet he had no country. He was meant to be heartless, emotionless and pitiless to his foes, and yet, he had a heart, emotions burned strongly within him... though one could say he didn't have much pity for his foes.

Chasing away the fruitless thoughts, attached the strings to the seals, he sent short pulses of chakra to seal the puppets up. He had resigned not to use the strings in such a way in combat until he was completely sure of himself, but he had a number of absolutely crazy ideas what he could do with them, especially considering the range and freedom of motion they had.

Closing the doors,and locking them up again, he smirked slightly as the protection seals he had set up kicked in and enforced the door. Apart from him, no one knew the sequence of flashes that would disable the barrier. Taking a look at the still sunny sky, he went to catch some sleep. It would be a long night.

Yugao was having similar thoughts to her younger partner, though someone had to keep guard, so she summoned a pair of clones and left to sleep as well. This time, the sweet embrace of dreams came far easier than last night. But sleep didn't last long.

With the coming of dusk, she woke up, completely rested. Rubbing her slightly hurting shoulder in annoyance, she got up, opting to take just a glass of water as she walked around the office that was her room dressed in nothing but her underwear. It was comfortable to her, and Naruto did neither leer nor care much about it... though she still remembered blushing when he saw her like that the first time. She smiled at the first and only memory of Naruto being without a comeback.

Still, she had thoughts of her own to consider. Right now, they were working here, without any permanent goals apart from raw survival. She wasn't a big fan of killing, it was one of those things she didn't really enjoy much, and ever since she met Naruto, she opened up more than she did ever before. She didn't think anything even borderline romantic, but she realized that she wanted to stay with him. He made her laugh, he kept her warm, he protected her when needed. He made her feel _human_. And that thing alone was worth her loyalty and devotion.

So maybe she didn't have any fixed goals for the future. But that wasn't so bad.

She walked over to the window, gazing towards the wide city before her, the lights in the night illuminating just enough to reveal the rough shapes of the buildings. Habuse was a unique place, she had to admit that much. Even at this time of night, she could spot crowds moving around in the faint light of the gas lamps that lit the streets. Habuse was a rich city, once heralded as one of the capitols of culture, well known for it's theaters, libraries and spiraling towers, but the civil war, and the reign of the Third Mizukage brought that to a harsh end. With the Bloodline Purges, vast tracts of land were left uninhabited, cleansed of all life as villages were burned down to the ground merely for harboring a few bloodline carriers. Many were killed, many more escaped Water country, settling either in one of the shinobi villages or hiding in the obscurity that the smaller countries provided.

Parts of the city were now either abandoned, or taken over by one of the factions vying for power. '_Mei Terumi versus the Ghost_' she chuckled at her thought '_Sounds ridiculous._'

Still, the third faction, the one they worked for, at least tomorrow, were the truly enigmatic ones. Both others wanted to instate themselves as the next Mizukage, a position that was actually above the daimyo in the terms of power and influence due to the terrain of the country along with a number of rather interesting relics that the Mizukage Fortress was believed to house. Until the battle between the two was over, however, the current 'acting' daimyo, Marusei Tokari was holding the key to the fortress, rumored to be a rather majestic gemstone.

One would wonder how Yugao gathered all this info. He or she would likely get the answer in the form of a kunai next to the neck and the reply of 'ANBU training'. Which was, incidentally the truth. ANBU didn't train in fancy methods to use flashy ninjutsu... in fact, she didn't remember learning a single one during her entire career there. On the other hand, she was taught assassination tactics, poisons, infiltration, information gathering, stealth and a number of other skills, in addition to even further improved physical conditioning. Even if she could at will look the part, Yugao was no harmless little girl, even if she was only 14.

A figure soon joined her in her gazing, dressed completely in black. Naruto had taken his usual clothes, though the entirety of his arms were covered with black, flexible bandages, strongly attached to the fingerless gloves on his hands. She could tell the faint lines on the surface of the palms, seals, she had no doubt.

"Nice view" he stated ambiguously, a small smile crossing his lips as he looked outside.

"Pervert" Yugao flatly responded, returning her face to the city outside.

"So says the woman standing about in her underwear when we're supposed to be preparing to leave" Naruto retorted, unperturbed by her response as he kept his gaze fixed on the city beyond, the eyes gaining just a slight glint in them.

"Get dressed will you? Or I'll start getting ideas" Naruto teased, a playful laugh following the statement, while Yugao merely laughed, walking off do do as she was asked.

Naruto stared on into the night, silently contemplating the future as the sound of female cursing echoed from the room behind him.

"Bout time" he muttered, easily jumping through the window and landing silently on the street below, Yugao only a couple of seconds behind him.

"South, was it?" Naruto asked rhetorically before breaking into a run.

"Mezuro... that's east" came the voice from behind him that froze him in place, feeling like a complete idiot.

"I meant to go that way" he pouted back through the night

"Suuure" Yugao joked back.

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The first rays of sun moved over the horizon, barely slipping past the thick mist. A small island village was still far from waking up, but the ship that was just about to dock nearby was seemingly full of life. At the shore, a single man was waiting for them, dressed in what appeared to be rags and a straw hat.

The captain of the ship, a ratty little man with a nasty face shouted at him

"Rabs! Is that you there?"

"Aye, aye you old hog, get over here with those goods before the boss throws me to the sharks" came the expected response, and the captain smirked contentedly as he gave the orders to close in and dock. He never noticed a shadow creeping right beneath the surface of the water.

"Hey Rabs" the rat-faced captain saluted, jumping to the shore to shake hands with the man. He also failed to notice the slight trickle of chakra around him, but what he didn't fail to notice was that Rabs was somehow off, though he didn't pay much attention to it. With his boss going bananas all the time, he'd be edgy as well. He never noticed when a kunai quickly rose and stabbed him in the neck, letting little more out than a soft gurgle as he quickly began drowning in his own blood.

Silently setting down his first victim, Naruto used the signal agreed upon, hitting the ground with his stick, before he rushed towards the ship, unsealing the Guardian in the process and attaching the one needed string from his arm to it as he used his back as a springboard to reach the deck. On the other side, Yugao had already climbed under the cover of the mist, slitting the throats two guards who never saw her coming.

"Shit we're..." was all a third one managed to say before a large naginata beheaded him. One tried to run, but hit the deck with a pair of kunai, one in the back of his neck and the other hitting squarely in his kidney. The remaining three closed ranks and prepared to fight, but were quickly destroyed when the large puppet crashed into them, breaking their necks, while Yugao cut through the last one. And once more, silence reigned. The brutal efficiency with which they took down the eight men surprised them both, as did the ease at which they worked together. Worse still, to Naruto at least, was the fact that he almost didn't react to the killing this time, apart from a slight twinge, he felt nothing.

"Stop standing around. We're not done yet" Yugao shortly scolded him, and Naruto snapped out, nodding shortly

"Right. I'll take the front you take the back entrance" he finished, running off. The ship wasn't a large one, with just the top deck and the one beneath it, mostly used for storage. At twenty meters of length, the skiff was fast and agile, perfect for smuggling contraband . The upper cabin was the one belonging to the captain while the others used the deck, or the cargo space beneath to sleep. Moving quickly and efficiently, Naruto reached the front entrance to the cargo area, and both he and Yugao entered at the same time. Bellow-decks was dark, the space lacking any sort of illumination, though the main cargo door could be opened... now if he could only find the winch... there.

A stream of light illuminated a rather saddening sight, that of a young girl, who was curled up among the many crates, as if trying to hide. Naruto could barely see her face, but her eyes... completely dead. Broken.

"Tenre, over here!" he shouted, kneeling down next to her. Her eyes were open, she was awake, but she didn't notice him. The scent around her.... where did he remember it from? '_Oh_' was the only thing his mind could string together as he remembered.... and instantly wished he had kept the pigs above alive. He would have flayed them, bit by bit until they were begging for it.

"Tenre get your fucking ass over here this instant!" he shouted, his voice turning pissed for the first time in almost six months. And she reacted in a second, nearly bawling over the crates

"What is it Me... damn" she trailed off, understanding just what got Naruto so mad, and she couldn't say that she didn't share his reaction... in a bout of feminine rage and disgust, she hoped that maybe, just maybe one of the men above survived.

"We can't leave her here" Naruto shortly, but decidedly stated, closing his hands to try and pick her up. She didn't struggle as he lifted her off the ground.

"Yugao" he called, addressing her by her name for the first time since they donned their false identities. "Damn the profits, damn everything. Just take her and wait outside. I'm going to make this thing disappear for good" he ordered, leaving no room for argument. Yugao nodded shortly. It wasn't like she hadn't already robbed the till as it were. That stack of gems she pilfered was probably worth more than the ship.

"Try not to kill yourself, Naruto" she responded before leaving with the girl. She knew that by the time this was over, the largest piece of the boat would be the size of a toothpick. She had seen what Naruto had, in the understatement of the century, called a demonstration of his explosives, and she knew he had a scroll loaded with them, so he ran as fast as she could.

Naruto was quiet as his hands moved, unsealing something that looked like clay from his scrolls. He had prepared for events that would need superior firepower by creating explosives. By know his originally limited knowledge of chemistry had improved vastly, and the first-class explosives he could produce, along with all the following equipment in the form of stabilizers, delayed fuses and detonators were no worse. Five clones formed from the moisture in the area, breaking off to position the charges throughout the ship, aiming for what he believed to be weak spots.

He didn't like the institution of slavery, but he downright despised some of the acts that went along with it, having studied it in detail from his late sensei's scrolls. Some things didn't change, even with the passing of decades and centuries.

"Charges set and ready" came the voices of his five clones, and Naruto nodded shortly before tying the fuses together at a spot he was pretty sure wold detonate them simultaneously, having looped the fuses at several points. He was cold, logical and efficient, to be anything else was to likely get himself killed. He submerged all his feelings beneath the work he was doing now, and the decision he made to help the girl. It was foolish, it was dangerous. It would likely get him killed. But he couldn't just stand and do nothing, or just leave her somewhere. If he did that... he was no better than the scum that had robbed him and Yugao of their home. He took one last look at the goods they were supposed to destroy, just to make sure it was the right thing. Within the crates were large vials of greenish liquid, stored carefully in straw, so as not to break. Setting back the wooden top of the crate, he turned around and prepared to leave.

Yugao didn't have to wait long for Naruto. Mere minutes after she had left carrying the girl, Naruto rejoined them.

"Let's move. I've set up a delay of ten minutes" Naruto shortly ordered, taking one look at the still blank face of the girl that just found.

"Right. When we get back, I'll take care of the girl, you go and pick up our payment, okay?"

"Sure"

And with that, they started running over the water. Perfectly calm as in the distance to their backs, a loud explosion resounded, sending waves crashing around.

It wasn't really that hard to reach the city, considering that there were numerous smaller islands on the route, perfect places to rest for a few minutes before continuing the run. The sun rose slowly, and by the time they had reached the city, it was only around nine in the morning... which during autumn here meant it was still early. During the entire trip, the girl they found had barely moved, twitching slightly and sobbing now and then.

Yugao had attempted communication several times, but failed miserably. They would need a doctor once they got back. And thanks to her, ehm, scavenging, they'd have enough to pay for it.

Neither of them were so sure why they reacted so strongly, or why they wanted to protect and aid this girl, and help heal her rape-broken mind. No answers to the question apart from their gut instincts telling them to do so.

She had taken the time to study her a bit. She was young, somewhere between her age and Naruto's if she was right. Long, but dirtied black hair that draped itself around her sad face, which was in turn made even more, if tragically, beautiful. The sad, dead brown eyes stared emptily ahead of her. But that wasn't all... she could feel an unnatural coldness emanating from her, and there was even the feeling of a small reserve of chakra present. The girl, it seemed had some training.

Only half way back did she notice the several restraining tags placed on her back, certain that they were at least part of the reason she was in such bad shape. She recognized the tags as similar to those ANBU used to keep prisoners sealed off from their chakra reserves, but there were those she had no idea what they were used for.

Quickly skidding along the surface of the water, Naruto leaped against the water with an impressive spin, landing right before the doors of the warehouse. As Yugao rushed in, he closed the doors behind them, escorting the two to the rooms that were upstairs.

"Do you need anything?" Naruto worriedly asked his partner

"No, I'll be fine" she responded, pulling out a small, red notebook and tossing him a piece of paper "Place, name and id you'll need to get the cash. I have no doubt they confirmed the sinking already. Though you could, get us some decent food on your way back while you're at it. I think she could use something to eat. I'll track down a doctor later, okay?"

Naruto nodded before using the window to leave. Yugao couldn't help but chuckle at the fact that even without the years of practice, he had already picked up on the habit of observing any opening as a door.

She returned to the tags she had seen on the girl and picked the scrolls she had borrowed from Naruto's 'learning stash', especially the ones on advanced seals and the making of seal tags, curious whether she could find anything useful there.

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Naruto glanced suspiciously at the building in front of him. 'Barok's Tattoo Parlor' was hardly a name that inspired... he wondered for a second just what it was supposed to inspire... after all, the pirates were keeping a generally low profile, it's not like they would simply hang a 'We're Pirates, right here' sign with an arrow pointing. _That_ would be stupid.

Swallowing his irritation at his line of thought, he walked in, the bell chime above the door signaling the owner that he was entering.

"Yo" came the gruff, distinctly female voice. Once Naruto looked at the woman in question, he was hard pressed not to blush, as she was very, very scantly dressed. Tight leather shorts, and something that looked like little more than a sports bra... and the rest of the skin was covered in extensive tattoos depicting everything from a black cat, over roses to what seemed most like a snake with an apple in it's mouth. She seemed to be in her early thirties, though you could easily be mistaken by her perfectly conditioned body.

Naruto snapped out of it instantly. It would do him no good if he pissed off his contact.

"You would be Barok, correct?" he asked, trying his best to keep his business voice and NOT stare at the woman's impressive chest.

"Yeah, I am. So, where do you want it?" she asked curiously, inwardly laughing as she walked over to her set of working needles

"Wh... the hell?" Naruto lost himself finally "Where do I want what?"

She sauntered over, looking every bit as sexy as she was before leaned over, moving her face right next to his, and grinning lustfully, enjoying his obvious torment.

"Why the tattoo of course" she chirped, getting back up, laughing at his reddened face "What were you thinking about?" she teased, turning back only slightly to show her smirking face. Naruto quickly recovered, using the pain from stabbing his nails into his palm to calm down.

"I'm not here for the tattoos Barok-san" Naruto commented dryly, pointedly ignoring the older woman's chuckling at his discomfort "I'm here for... work"

"Oh? I wasn't aware I hired anyone so delicious to do a job.." she joked, and went towards the back of the shop, her right index finger moving in a 'come hither' motion.

Reluctantly, Naruto followed to the back, unsurprised when he noticed a rather suspicious man seemingly sleeping in a chair on the other side of the wall that parted the front, shop room, from the backroom. Security.

"Have a seat kid." Barok stated in a much less.. flirty voice. "So, you're Yugao's younger partner?" she stated in a matter-of-fact way. "You don't look like much, shinobi-wise... but looks can be deceiving I guess." she kept commenting, eyes going over him studiously. "Nice makeup job by the way."

"If you're done commenting my appearance miss, I'd like to get this over with" Naruto added, a slight hint of tiredness slipping into his voice

"Rough job, huh?" she stated "Well, I know how it can get. Let's see." she pulled out a small stack of papers, and began ruffling through them "Intel, intel, ohh, cash, intel.... Ah, here it is." she triumphantly pulled out a sorry excuse for used paper that seemed like at had seen better days.

"Hmm... takedown in less than five minutes, extraction soon after... nice. You blew the ship into smithereens?" she added, a small amount of shock escaping her "You don't see that every day. Says here you were carrying someone. A slave?"

Meanwhile Naruto was more than slightly awed at the precision of the report on their activities. Someone was actually watching them the whole time and they never even noticed? But how did they fail to notice the part about the puppets?

"I see your spies observe well" Naruto responded "The girl, frankly I don't know. There weren't any brands, at least where we could see. We're taking care of her now."

"Okay, not really my problem. Still, here's the agreed upon amount" she retorted, pulling out two stacks of bills "Ten thousand each, right? That's about it for the business. Reiko, escort the young man out would you?"

"Hai, Barok-sama"

"Oh, and Mezuro? Drop by in the next couple of days... I think I might have more work for you and that cute girlfriend of yours" she teasingly added, while waving him off. Naruto felt more than relieved to leave the building and start his shopping run, but he first separated a fixed amount of cash. No use pulling out all of it and making himself a target.

"What a fun kid, eh Reiko?" Barok cheerfully commented, taking a sip of her beer.

"You haven't been this playful in awhile Barok-sama. He might just make this juggling gig a bit more fun" Reiko confirmed, taking his own.

"Would it kill you to stop calling me that? It makes me feel old..." Barok commented, before taking a long chug from the wooden keg.

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Yugao tiredly looked at the last tag that remained, this one placed right at the base of the girl's skull. The others, affecting her chakra stores, muscle movement, basically anything that would facilitate escape, were easy to remove, but this one... apart from the fact that it affected the brain in some way, and the fact that it induced what she had by now identified as a catatonic state, rather than post rape shock, she knew nothing about it. Not how it worked, not what it did, not how to remove it.

All she could do was sigh in annoyance and wait for Naruto to come home, hoping that his (to her slight dismay) vastly superior skills in sealing would be able to do something.

The sound of the warehouse doors opening was the cue that Naruto was finally home, and that this source of rapidly increasing irritation could be put to rest.

"Tenre! I'm home" Naruto shouted

"Up here" Yugao happily answered, glad to hear him climbing up the stairs... loudly. If she didn't know better, she'd ask herself if he was a ninja. The raven haired shinobi quickly entered the room, carrying several small bags with him.

"I got us some decent food, as well as a new filter for the water, the old one was dying..." he chuckled slightly "How's out patient?"

"Frankly, I have no idea. I think she isn't in shock.. rather she seems to be catatonic, and if I had to guess, the last seal tag is causing it."

"I see. Let me have a look, will you?" he asked kindly, and Yugao turned the girl over in the bed, revealing the strange tag placed on the back of her neck. Naruto gently pushed the hair away revealing it in it's entirety. Yugao quickly removed herself, so as not to disrupt him.

'_Mind affecting, huh?_' Naruto mused as he quietly traced the lines of the tag _'Decent quality sealing paper and ink, finely drawn lines, no wasted space. The work of either a professional or someone with a good basis to copy from. Since she was likely to be a slave, the second one most likely. The side array drain her own chakra to power the main one which does.... I have no fucking clue what, but it looks damn familiar. Best check that...'_

Irritated as well, he stalked off to his workshop, where he began digging through until he found the scroll he was looking for.

Yugao merely watched in silence as he worked. Naruto could act like a normal kid most of the time, but whenever he sat down to work on either his puppets or on something important like this.... he was different. Serious, focused and efficient. She realized long ago that Naruto was one of the most complicated and difficult to read people she knew, probably outdone only by her former captain and teacher in ANBU.

Naruto quietly got back, flipping the pages of a small book he had unsealed from the scroll, reading something, until he began grinned victoriously.

"There!" he shouted"This girl was probably very lucky" he stated sagely "The tag puts the victim into a coma for as long as it's on, characterized by the widely opened eyes which rarely blink, along with the sobbing and the occasional shivering. She won't have any memories from that point till now. It was used for transport of high-risk prisoners and slaves, and to remove it, all you have to do is douse it in a good ink solvent. Just water won't do." he explained for Yugao's benefit. The girl nodded, running off to bring the small bottle she had borrowed for her own practices.

"Just so you know, I checked her body for a slave brand or any other such mark."she commented as she handed him the small bottle

"And?" Naruto asked, preparing a rag for the solvent so evenly brush it off.

"She's clean. Also, she's a shinobi, and a decently trained one if I had to guess" Yugao added "At least according to her muscles and chakra. I overheard talk about some underground fights in the tavern last night. They were likely going to sell her there."

"Probably. Let's try and wake her up then." he quietly said, driving away the other thoughts. He moved the rag to the seal tag, and the intricate writing on the surface of the paper faded quickly under the solvent, disabling the seal. At the same moment, her body obviously relaxed as she slumped into what both assumed was slumber.

"Wasn't that supposed to...?"

"Yeah.. looks like she was just too exhausted. Why don't you go and find that doctor? I'll watch over her" Naruto calmly stated "Oh, and eat something before you go... there's some hot dango in one of the bags"

"Mmmm dango" Yugao muttered as she walked to the bags, and Naruto couldn't help but chuckle. Taking the comfortable blanket to cover the still sleeping girl, he walked over to the window, landing himself into the chair there, and leaning it so that he cold look at the surprisingly clear sky.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** Well, that's it. Chapter six done and posted. A bit less action and a bit more thinking and such

Also, here's the promised intel on the important OC, Barok

* * *

_Profile_

_Name:: Barok (real name unknown)_

_Sex:: Female_

_Age:: Unknown, believed to be around 30_

_Occupation:: Tattoo expert, Mercenary handler for the southern part of Habuse, former occupation unknown, suspected to be a former kunoichi_

_Appearance::_

_ Height:: 1.75 (1.85 with heels on)_

_ Weight:: 60 kg_

_ Hair color:: black, long hair tied into numerous braids_

_ Eye color:: green_

_ Distinguishing marks:: nearly every bit of her body has tattoos. Always wears revealing clothes_

_Character info_

_ Barok is pretty much the person to go to when you need a job done in Habuse. Officially, she handles the southern part of the city. Unofficially, she covers both normal merc jobs, along with deals for the pirates and the two warring factions. Because she keeps neutral (for now at least), and because a lot of people owe her favors, she is basically untouchable._

_ She's a flirt to those she likes and/or respects, while to those she doesn't, she acts unpleasantly and harshly, at times showing off her actual skills apart from tattooing._

_ She is highly perceptive and very intelligent, not to mention well connected throughout Water country and especially the capitol, Habuse.

* * *

_

Thought I'd pass something interesting to read around. Oh, and guess who the girl is. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and remember to review!


	7. Three's a Crowd

**Author's Ramblings:** Nice... 30+ reviews. Okay, to the deal at hand..

First, I probably often mention that Naruto keeps most of his feelings at bay, and concealed from the rest of the world. That doesn't extend to peacetime entertainment. He laughs, he jokes and he pranks like the others, and the laughter and such are the real thing. However, on missions, and about important things, he rarely reveals his thoughts, except to Yugao. Keep in mind that he has explicit trust in her, and that if he doesn't tell her something, it's mostly because he hasn't thought it through yet. Also, he isn't a the happy little kid who'd help out anyone without anything in return, but he has several soft spots.

Also, people will likely be asking why Naruto isn't spamming Shadow Clones like mad for his training. Apart from learning new jutsu, it's useless to him. Anything physical would demand muscle memory, and that includes the movements of his puppets, and any potential martial art. His control and capacity are as close to flawless as possible for him, and he's not a ninjutsu maniac. I already have special plans for his skills on that accounts.

_**Also, a very important statement to make. Please read this part**_

Just because you're used to characters slinging hundreds of different attacks around, not to mention dozens of different jutsus or using fancy, self-made combat styles that pop out of seemingly nowhere, doesn't mean that will happen in this fic. Originally, I intended to put up a rough estimate of the skills Naruto will have, but I'll skip it. Be content to know that while he will be powerful, he still wont equal a jounin in power alone (skill, tactics and intellect are a completely different matter though... even Madara would die if someone hit him with a 5 ton weight on the head :D)

Also, bloodlines such as the Sharingan will be toned down compared to cannon, because it simply doesn't make sense(it's vastly overpowered) (I mean come on, the moment you think the annoying character is about to die.... nooo, I have a new uber jutsu to throw at you because my brother died... seriously annoying)

Now that the annoyed rant part is out of the picture, enjoy the new chapter.

* * *

_Chapter 7 : Three's a Crowd_

Boredom. Complete and utter boredom, the bane of his existence for the past several hours. He had really stopped counting ever since the sun reached the horizon. The girl they rescued was still asleep, Yugao was outside, looking for a good doctor to take a look at her, and Naruto? Naruto was sitting around wasting his time. He really wasn't in the mood to pour over the scrolls or tinker with his puppets, or even go out and fish, though that was hardly an option with the unconscious girl there. There was one line of thought left to him though... that about the demon sealed inside him.

He really didn't know what to think of it, the seal on his belly was far to complex for him to comprehend, and the limited notes on it Sarutobi had packed in the scroll he left him were... complicated and hard to decipher to say the least. At best, it would take him years to figure it out... and he didn't have the time. On the other hand, apart from the rather limited texts he had read, he knew next to nothing about the jinchuriki. They house demons, and strictly speaking, it refereed only to the 'great nine' as it were. His information on his tenant was also pitiful at best. The Kyuubi was well known as the most powerful and the most destructive entity in the world.

Seriously, for such an important subject it was pathetic that he couldn't find out more about it. But then again, he really didn't think that his sensei expected the future apprentice to be a jinchuriki. But, as usual, he would adapt. His stash wasn't the only source of information... from what he heard the former Mizukage was a jinchuriki, of the three-tailed horned turtle, if he remembered correctly. He wondered if it would be possible to get his hands on his belongings. He was sure that the man left behind something on his experiences as a host, even if it was just a journal. He would have to dig around for information... not that he really minded. There were bound to be other sources of information, and likely, he could find some way to contact the demon itself.

"Uhhh" came a pained groan, startling him from his thoughts "Where am I?" the voice asked again. It took Naruto half a second to figure out just who it was talking.

"The city of Habuse, sleeping in my bed" Naruto flatly responded, though a small smirk came to his face as the girl blinked at him in confusion, before her face turned into a scowl

"I assume you are the one who bought me?" she asked dejectedly.

"Bought? Nah" Naruto responded, waving his hand dismissively "Me and my partner found you on a ship we were raiding. Didn't want to leave you behind to sink with it. You aren't branded, so legally speaking, you aren't a slave. And frankly? It would be too much of a hustle to have one right now" Naruto joked, trying to lift the girl's spirits. He certainly didn't want to be the one to tell her that she was in essence raped while she was comatose. "So, what's your name?" he asked curiously

"My name? It's Haku" the now named Haku responded

"I'm Mezuro. My partner and the doctor should soon be com... ah, they're here" he finished off as he heard the much more subtle (compared to him) entry of his partner. He loved raising a ruckus, mostly because he couldn't do that while he was working.

A minute later, Yugao walked into the room, followed by a rather short old man with graying hair. The doctor was a strange one to say the least, and he couldn't fit him in with any of those he remembered back from Konoha. He was shorter than him, thin as a twig, but wearing baggy robes that hid that quite well. He had the appearance of the wise old man from tales of old.

"Is this the girl?" he spoke calmly.

"Yes" Yugao shortly answered.

"She seems fine to me. You removed all the transport tags, correct? Then all she would need is a days rest, some food and water and she'll be just fine" the aged doctor commented, trying to ignore the 'gentle' nudge Yugao was giving him "Oh, that. Miss... uhm, what's your name again?"

"Haku" the raven-haired girl responded, now growing slightly irritated by the old man.

"These people suspect you might have been raped during transport. Will you let me give you a checkup, and offer some medicine if needed?" he offered in a kind voice, slightly surprising the two, while Haku looked shellshocked. Lost for words, she shortly nodded.

"I think I'll be leaving now" Naruto shortly stated, jumping through the window to get a breath of fresh air. He certainly didn't want to make Haku even feel even more nervous with him being there. Also, he really _didn't _want to be there for the medical examination.

The slight chill of the night air reminded him that he had once more forgotten his vest, leaving him only in his sleeveless shirt and the black bandages that he had forgotten to take off.

It was too late to go fishing, and he left the cash in his vest pockets, so no going out for food. In a flash of inspiration, Naruto decided to practice the one skill Yugao taught him that he didn't test yet... much at least. Going into one of the side alleys, Naruto performed a quick **Henge** to alter his appearance before walking to one of the more crowded nearby areas. Time to practice pickpocketing.

Yugao had already liberated Naruto of her share of the cash (which was incidentally nearly three quarters of the remaining cash) and paid the doctor from it

"She will be just fine. While she was indeed raped, she has no recollection of it, hence the lack of trauma. Also, the seal kept her safe from any lasting... damage, as expected" the old doctor explained "Slavers know their work quite well, I'm afraid" he offered as he walked out "Oh, and don't forget to give her the pills for the next three days. They'll help with the damage from the seals"

She didn't notice the old man smile as he descended the stairs, as she was busy helping Haku get up. Nor did she notice him leaving the money she had paid him on the last step of the stairs, held firm by a small stone, before he left.

"Well Haku-san, in case that Mezuro didn't tell you already, I'm Tenre, his partner"

"Pleased to meet you" she responded in a shaky voice. It was somewhat hard to swallow everything she heard for the past two or three hours, not to mention the memories of the events before that.

"Dare I suggest a hot shower and some warm food? I'll suggest the first, while I prepare the second"

Haku shortly nodded to the young woman before her, letting herself be guided to the shower. The bathroom wasn't much, but it was clean, and it had everything it needed, including a surprisingly comfortable shower cabin.

"I'll be outside if you need anything, okay?" Yugao shortly offered "The towels are in that cabinet over there" she added pointing to the object in question and walked out to heat up the food.

Haku watched the proceedings with a small amount of suspicion, a thing inherent to her due to her upbringing, but the information she gathered so far went against the duo being enemies. First, they claimed the saved her from slavers, which according to everything else was quite true. Then they bring her to safety, remove all the restraints on her, and pay for a doctor to check her up. Had they wanted to harm her, they would have done so long ago. Then there was the fact that she was indeed raped, but strangely enough, she didn't feel that much about it. She felt dirtied by the knowledge, but there was no self-loathing as her sensei warned her was to be likely. No pain, no hatred, no consequences to the act itself. So, setting the obviously lacking emotions of hurt aside, she decided to be rational about this.

'_Since he's dead, I have nowhere left to go now. Maybe..._' she thought as the warm water fell in cascades over her aching muscles, soothing the slight, but annoying pain in her legs and shoulders. God knows in what kind of position she was kept while 'in transport'.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Naruto meanwhile, was busy mourning the lack of a ramen place in Habuse. _'Capitol of culture my ass, if they can't make ramen...' _he inwardly cursed as he tried the first thing that caught his interest: pocky. And damn, he had to admit it was an interesting treat, and to think it came in dozens of different tastes!

Quite contrary to what people might think, Naruto wasn't a ramen fanatic. Sure, it was his favorite food, even with the healthier and higher quality ones he had learned to prepare, but he really didn't want to burden the Ichiraku's much, since his constant eating there had caused issues in the past. So, once every week he'd come and feast.

"Mmmm... chocolaty" Naruto mumbled as he stuck a new stick in his mouth

Maybe the sticks of pocky will provide a temporary alternative. Not as good as ramen, but damn tasty regardless.

All jokes aside, he was quite proud of himself for his work for the night. He had managed to steal enough cash to actually pay a decent meal AND a full box of the addictive treat, not to mention leaving some change behind. Not bad for a night's work.

He cheerfully walked back to his warehouse home, eying the lit upper floor with a smirk. Keeping as quiet as possible, he began walking up the wall, in an exaggerated sneaking motion as his left hand held to the box of pocky. He half expected for Yugao to pop through the open window and berate him for messing around, or simply smack him on the head with a solid object through the window, not even bothering to look out.

Neither happened, much to his growing surprise and concern. Still, the sounds of chatting and laughing coming from inside pretty much dispersed his worries.

He got down from his spot, and decided to use the front door.

"Hey everyone, I'm home" Naruto loudly announced as he popped through the door, immediately cowering as Yugao nearly threw her sword at him, while shushing him with her other hand. Haku had fallen soundly asleep in the two minutes it took him to get there.

"Sorry" he weakly offered to his partner, who merely shook her head.

"Real subtle" Yugao commented

"I said sorry already... sheesh. Oh, and someone left cash on the stairs. Know anything about it?" Naruto asked as he passed the stack of bills to her.

"That crazy... why did he do it?" Yugao thought out loud as she easily recognized the money she had used to pay for Haku's checkup. When Naruto opened his mouth to ask, she just waved off in a halfhearted 'never mind' gesture.

"Mezuro... there's something I want to ask you." she started seriously.

"You want to ask her to join us?" Naruto continued, not even bothering to look at her surprised face "I've been thinking the same thing. Both of us are quite good, but a couple of serious jounin and we're dead meat." Naruto stated honestly, his eyes displaying his level of worry. He sighed, staying quiet for a few moments "I... I don't want you to die Yugao" he quietly stated, with all the finality of an executioner's axe falling on it's victim.

Yugao found herself touched by the genuine concern behind the calm voice, and she knew he meant it. He slowly opened up to her during their time together, a bit of the bright, happy personality that should have been there once more coming out thanks to her, but he was still a very serious young man who knew well the weight of his words. She could do naught but smile at his care.

"You do realize that I'll die of old age or disease one day regardless?" she offered, not as a jab, but as a friendly piece of advice and concern. To her surprise, Naruto just laughed.

"I can't stop the Shinigami's blade any more than I can stop time" he stated, the laugh dying out "But I'll do all in my power to delay his coming" he added firmly. Both turned their heads as Haku shuffled slightly in the bed, turning around to cover herself better with the blanket.

"Tomorrow then?" he asked quietly, before walking to the chair to catch some sleep. If he could have slept in his workshop with an anvil for a pillow, a chair was comfort

"Tomorrow" she responded, getting up and going to her own office/room to sleep, vaguely aware of the several clones that got out and kept watch. After all, the term paranoia was hardly applicable among shinobi.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

As he woke up, Naruto silently prayed for a short, utterly boring day. Getting up from the chair, and popping a few joints, he immediately noticed a sight that told him otherwise... Haku was missing from her bed, and if the sounds coming from downstairs were any indication, she and Yugao were fighting... most likely sparing. He duly noted the dobbing of the rain on the thankfully closed window of the office/bedroom, and the fact that Haku at least had the decency to clean up the bed behind her wasn't lost on him.

Trivialities aside, Naruto had a reason to smile. If the two of them were sparing, it meant that Yugao had already asked Haku about joining them, and she most likely accepted. He had no idea about her skill level, but he had a feeling she would prove an invaluable ally.

Putting on what little clothes he had taken off the previous night, he lazily opened the door that led to the stairs down. Descending while thinking over the plans for the next puppet he wanted to make, he was startled by a senbon stabbing itself into the wall next to him. That by itself was enough to worry him, but what surprised him was that it wasn't made of metal... rather it was essentially a small shard of ice. It might have lacked the weight, and therefore the penetration power of a regular senbon... but he wasn't stupid. If someone could form _ice_...

"Sorry about that" he heard Haku's voice coming from the large open area that comprised most of the ground floor.

"No problems... you didn't hit me" Naruto offhandedly responded, studying the senbon in his hand "Didn't figure you could make ice with chakra.... a bloodline of sorts?" he asked curiously, mildly surprised when the girl's posture changed to a far more defensive one. He then remembered just what had happened here less than ten years ago. The Bloodline Purges.

"It is." she slowly responded

"Hyoton." Yugao shortly added "She has a naturally high water and wind affinity, but thanks to her bloodline she can combine them to form ice." she further explained, already expecting Naruto's reaction, and the probably surprised look on Haku's face.

"Oh, well that's cool" he answered in a bored tone, walking towards his workshop "You girls play nice, Tenre, I'll be in the workshop. You know how to get through should you need me"

And indeed, Haku was surprised by his reaction. Out of all the possible reactions she thought of, mild disinterest wasn't on the list. People have been hateful, shocked, afraid, awed, and a number of other things.

"Don't bother trying to figure out what he's thinking" Yugao offered in a friendly tone "I've known him for the better part of seven months, and I still can't figure out what he's thinking about half the time. Besides, you haven't seen the look on his face when he picked that senbon out of the wall. He's already thinking off the possibilities. I'd be surprised if he doesn't come up with something y the end of the day."

"Is he really... like that?" Haku asked pensively.

"Mezuro is complicated at best" Yugao answered, taking the short brake as an opportunity to clean up her sword "Also, you should know that he agrees on the offer I gave you." she added, taking a whetstone from her pocket and beginning to sharpen the edge of the blade.

"I see" Haku slowly responded, walking to a nearby crate to sit down "You said you wanted me to join the two of you as a... partner?" she asked her question, repeating the offer Yugao had given her an hour ago.

"Yes. You get to sleep here, until we move somewhere else. You'll have to work with us on jobs unless circumstances dictate otherwise, and you get a third of the cash we earn. Also, you get to train with us and you get someone who will watch your back." Yugao repeated. "So, decide yet?"

The girl remained silent for a few minutes, the only sounds in the room being the scratching of the whetstone against the edge of the sword Yugao was sharpening.

"Alright."

"Welcome aboard then. We'll just have to figure out how to put up a third bed somewhere around here"

Inwardly, Yugao smiled. She, quite like Naruto wasn't in the least stupid. Taking a third member to the group was risky at best, but without risks, there were no profits. And a wielder of a rare (thought extinct even) bloodline was the type of ally they could use. Only time would tell if she was worth the trust they put in her.

On the other side of the room, Haku was looking carefully at one of her two benefactors. There wasn't much said, but a lot was implied. She knew that they didn't trust her completely... who in their right mind would? But what really surprised her was that they didn't ask where she got her skills, something she really wasn't yet ready to discuss. Even after a full year, it was still too soon. Even if things didn't work out over time, she owed them for saving her. Helping out for a while was the least she could do.

Still, if the glint in Yugao's eyes was anything to go by, the sparring was going to take a loooong time.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Time passed surprisingly quickly for the three of them. Naruto mostly remained a recluse, staying in his workshop most of the time, and usually coming out covered in sooth and dust, cursing under his breath. Yugao occasionally dropped in for some help on her sword and some sealwork, while spending most of the other time either sparring with Haku, or practicing the relaxing art of fishing (mostly trying to figure out what Naruto saw in it). Haku, for her part, tried to help out wherever she could, mostly with sparring, though she had taken up cooking for the group as well. Things had settled down... mostly.

Haku loudly cursed, something that would have surprised anyone who didn't know the fragile-looking girl. Well, explosions within homes, as they were, tended to piss people off. And just when she had finally finished making lunch.

"Mezuro! What did you do this time?" she shouted her question from the small kitchen on the first floor. Thankfully for him, Yugao was still outside, so he didn't get into much trouble... or at least he hoped so. Women could be so difficult at times.

"Messed up the explosive ratios" Naruto grumbled as he walked out of his workshop, skin blackened from the blast. "No harm done though, it was a modified smoke bomb."

Haku could only blink to his statement of 'no harm'. There was a powder trace spreading from the door to about two meters outside. _'Just what kind of insane smoke bomb was he making? Seriously, they work just fine as they are'_

"Mezuro... why did a smoke bomb explode like that, and why are you still unharmed?" she asked in a sweet voice that left no room for argument

"Err.... I kinda forgot to close the door? And I kinda put in a new chemical to see how it would react?" he offered. Haku could only palm her face.

"How Tenre didn't go insane with you around is beyond me" she muttered as she walked away, leaving a relieved Naruto to clean his mess up.

"Hey Mezuro" Yugao greeted from the door, carrying a small bag "Another one of your experiments blew up in your face?" she offered teasingly. She knew that Naruto was cautious enough _not_ to try anything really stupid, so it was most likely a small miscalculation.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it all up" he irritatedly commented as he finished cleaning up the last traces of his 'work' from the open area of the warehouse "I tried a different substance as a trigger for the smoke bombs... but they reacted a bit stronger than I predicted. Still, this should help out with my other explosives. Any news from Barok?" he asked finally, no longer interested to speak about his explosive failure.

"Something. Should be interesting though" Yugao commented

"Fine by me. I'll go get Haku and you can brief us over lunch" he responded, turning towards the stairs. Before he could take a single step, Haku's voice came from above

"Lunch!" she shouted, emphasizing the word with a short bang on one of the pots... most likely with a laddle.

_'Convenient, no?'_ Naruto thought as the two of them walked up, laughing the whole time. At times, he wondered how their neighbors handled the constant noise they produced.

Upstairs, both were greeted by a sight they both quickly learned to appreciate. Haku had used Naruto's office as an impromptu dining room, cleaning up the various useless junk from the table and setting three chairs there, along with clean plates and even cutlery.

"Wow. I don't think I'll ever get used to food looking this good" Naruto stated, awed by the simple, but mouthwatering display of food on the desk. Haku blushed slightly, unused to the praise "Let's eat!" he added jovially.

The food was simply, yet very tasty. Rice, meat, vegetables, all prepared well, and giving off an aroma that made their mouths water. Haku, being the cook, took all such reactions as a compliment to her skills.

"Tenre, tell us about the job you got us." Naruto shortly asked after a few minutes of silent eating

"Job?" Haku asked curiously, tilting her head slightly to the side.

"Yeah. I've reached an... agreement of sorts with Barok" Yugao started "In return for handpicking the jobs for us, and making sure we don't get sent on a suicide run, she gets to keep twenty percent of the earnings. Steep, but worth it" she added."Now, to the job she passed on. A certain Gato, of Gato Shipping, better known in the local underworld as the leader of a vast smuggling and slaving cartel has begun taking over Wave country recently. While it is... unpleasant at best, there's little to be done about it, as he hasn't stepped on anyone's toes... yet. The issue we've been asked to deal with is that a number of his mercenaries have raided a nearby island, that is officially within Water country, and Barok received a request to have those mercenaries killed as an example, as well as gather some info about the man himself. Now, this mission should be generally easy, these are normal mercs, there should be no shinobi presence involved."

"So it's a simple cleanup mission?" Haku offered

"Quite. Unless there are more details" Naruto added

"There are. Apparently the leader of the bunch has a bounty on him. Not really a ninja, but a rather unpleasant criminal who has a good idea how to fight them... if he isn't caught off-guard. Mezuro, that one is your target. The others are rank and file, me and Haku will take care of those." she explained, pulling out a small dossier on the man "Barok passed this as well. And told me to say hi" she added the last bit, looking annoyed at the fact, while Naruto did his best 'What did I do?' innocent look. Truly, he hadn't done anything this time... right?

"You and your charms..." Yugao muttered under her breath as Naruto began reading the file

_'Kamizo Numari, male, 37. Wanted for 50 different acts of murder, 20 acts of arson, theft and public nudity' _Naruto couldn't help but be surprised at the last comment '_Considered to be very dangerous to non-shinobi bounty hunters. Exact skills unknown, but his trap laying skills are deadly, relies on daggers and poison. Bounty 10.000 ryo_

_PS. try not to let him lure you into a trap, if you can, attack him when he's off guard_'

Naruto smiled slightly at the last row, it was a recent addition, written by a female hand... most likely Barok. He'd have to remember to thank her for that detail when they got back from the mission.

"There's one more detail." Yugao commented, pulling out a relatively small, but accurate map of the islands that comprised Water country"Recognize these three islands Mezuro?"

"Hey, wasn't this the place where we stayed? And this is the island where we went for supplies" Naruto commented, recognizing the shapes of the islands. After all, certain landmarks were impossible to miss.

"Precisely, and that's exactly where we're going."she finished.

"When do we leave?" he asked quietly, still memorizing the info.

"Whenever. As soon as we can get ready, preferably. We even get a bonus if we can finish the job by tomorrow evening." Yugao explained, content to have finally finished her meal. "So?"

"I'm already set and packed" Naruto quietly stated, turning to Haku

"I need just a couple of things and I'll be ready" Haku added.

"In fifteen then?" Naruto offered, receiving two nods in turn "Fine, you two go and finish up, I'll clean the mess here"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

And so he did. While the two girls prepared what little they needed, Naruto manifested several cheap mist clones to clean up the table. He was thankfully almost always ready for work...seeing as he kept his puppets on him, along with whatever weapons or tools he might need. Even a small supply of food and water found it's place in his belongings.

It was no more than five minutes that the whole group was gathered in front of the warehouse, with Naruto finishing the lockup. The additional protections were basic, but effective, meant to keep out the likes of burglars and squatters. Any professional ninja would figure out a way to bypass anything but the most powerful protections that were possible to weave, and that by itself attracted more attention than any of them needed. And apart from the workshop, which was pretty much safe behind several layers of blood seals and other simpler protections. Many would think it complicated, but then again, most average ninjas were complacent fools, or simply didn't care to achieve as much. Naruto really didn't care, the more fools, the merrier for him.

Yugao took the front, with Naruto on her left and Haku on the right. Naruto kept the puppets sealed as they now had a third member of the team. Also, he was curious to see if Haku would figure out that the puppets weren't 'alive'.

This time, traveling on foot wasn't an option... because while the island was relatively near, the weather was hardly as calm as it was the previous days, forcing them to book a boat to the nearest port and proceed from there.

The boat was a ramshackle tub of wood, something that hardly gave the feeling of security, though one quickly thought otherwise after the sight of the grizzled old captain. He looked like the kind who must have been old when your ancestors were still learning to walk, hardened by decades (if not centuries) spent on the open waters. The kind of sailor that could take a plank and sail it through a storm.

"Captain-san" Naruto politely asked the man as they prepared to board the ship "I don't know much about your work, so I won't presume to interfere, but how long will the trip take?"

The captain looked at him curiously "Six hours" he slowly responded, taking his hat off to rub the back of his head as he turned to the west, eying the gathering clouds suspiciously "Make that seven"

"Is there a storm coming?" he continued, to the light surprise of his two companions, and to a lesser extent, the captain, who merely quirked an eyebrow, curious whether the boy had read the clouds... or him. Either was impressive

"Aye. A nasty one is coming, though it might benefit you" he offered with a smirk, one that Naruto returned quickly.

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Yugao asked with a smile as she and Haku boarded. As Naruto started to do the same, the old captain held him by the shoulder. When he turned around to see what the problem was, the old man sighed.

"Careful with those two kid." he offered kindly "One woman has been more than enough to drive strong men into the ground. But two?" he shivered at the last words before giving a light push to the boy's back, leaving him to contemplate the meaning of the words. Minutes after that, as soon as the crew of five had prepared, the ship cast off.

He couldn't quite put a finger on it, but Naruto once more felt that slight tinge of uneasiness. Something was going to happen, and soon. By reflex, his hands checked every object in his limited inventory, and found it all there. Yugao and Haku seemed not to notice anything. Could it be that he was just being paranoid?

Yugao was having similar thoughts as she sat, leaning with her back on the mast, the long katana held by it's simple wooden sheath. Contrary to the usual, lavishly decorated blades, this one was simple, lacking even a proper guard. It wasn't meant for ordinary sparring, rather, it was for killing, a weighted, strengthened blade meant to cut through any lesser one by the virtue of it's wielder's strength and skill. That blade was Naruto's gift to her, something he had found a long time ago, but had no use for. He would have sold it, or melted it down, but decided to keep it, nearly forgetting about it until it was time to leave Konoha. And so far, it had served her well, both as a weapon, and as a source of comfort, both of which she believed she would soon need. And it wasn't just because of the coming storm.

Of the three, Haku was the calmest, watching the stormy sea in the distance with a detached calm. Regardless of the horrors that transpired there, it was still her home, and the open sea she had seen so many times was one of the things she loved the most. The storm didn't worry her, but the looks on her new team's faces did. Both were preparing for something. Slightly concerned as well, she made a short checkup on her limited equipment, her gentle hands brushing softly over the small tattoo on her wrist. It would be safe there until needed.

Uncertain of what would await them, the trio of young mercenaries stared into the dim distance as the first signs of rain begun showing, the light drumming of water on the planks of the ship echoing even as the wind picked up.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** And there it is. Now for the few details I promised. Among them, the profile on Naruto's newest puppet, as I will not be writing it down in the story itself.

First, I have not revealed everything about either Haku or Yugao _yet. _There's a lot more stuff I'll write down, but I don't want to rush things too much.

Also, my writing got slightly delayed for two simple reasons. First, would be the end of one round of exams, which combined with the second... that I got Mass Effect 2 to play, meant a drastic drop in productivity on my account. So, sorry for that one :P

For the subject of Haku's limited reactions. While she is aware that someone raped her, she has no recollection of the event, nor any physical consequences to show for it (slavers aren't stupid, damaged goods aren't paid as well as those in mostly pristine condition). She is still somewhat guarded though. As a final note on the account, just because they offered her a job, doesn't mean they trust her completely yet. Both Naruto and Yugao know that openly trusting someone like that would be dangerous, but they are willing to give her a chance to prove herself, and they need another shinobi to help out so that they can get the better-paying jobs

Now for the puppet

_Thunder Weaver_

_Arachnid puppet in the form of a dog-sized spider with 8 metallic limbs, each sharpened and possessing a small reservoir of nerve destroying venom. The puppet is capable of firing up to three stored webs made out of reinforced ninja wire which are connected to it's store of Lightning scrolls meant to give it's victims a nasty shock. Also, it shoot a stream of acid from it's head, using a simple, but effective pressurized nozzle. The final weapon it possesses is the normal wire with a blade weight at the end, this one can also be electrified._

_Unlike his other puppet, Naruto's experience with this one is drastically lower, so it's slower and more vulnerable than the Guardian, also it has far fewer gadgets, but in turn, the construction is far more solid, and it's size makes it harder to hit._

Well, that's it. I hope you enjoyed the chapter even if there wasn't much action in it. The next one however, will be the start of the Wave arc, and it will be crazy :D

Also, as an addition, don't expect a long, woe is me speech from Inari ;)

Read and review folks. Till next time


	8. Chaos Among Waves

**Author's Rambling:** I'll keep the rambling part short as I have two reviews to reply to. This is the start of a new arc, blah blah, and all that nonsense. Now to the fun part, the replies to reviews of people without contact information.

To Darak

To be completely honest I gave the village council more power than they had in the cannon. Think of it this way, Konoha is the type of village to have political loopholes in place to legally depose tyrants without bringing up too much of a fuss. Also, it's the only scenario that makes actual sense as to why Naruto lived a crappy life when someone could have taken care of him... the only other political entity in Konoha fought against it. Also, Sarutobi has returned for a second term, is tired of the job and is getting old. You really can't expect him to keep up with drastically more aggressive people... until he snaps, something that was sure to come sooner or later(that or dying... I personally prefer the first one). And we all know that while Danzo is a highly skilled manipulative bastard (yes, I concede that he is a misguided patriot, but seriously...), Sarutobi is equally skilled, and even if he failed to get Naruto a good life, you can be sure that the least he would do was ensure that he was safe. In short, there are limits to what he can or can't do without bringing about civil war.... though like I said, once riled up, it's a completely different matter.

Also, there's the fine and utterly unpleasant point of being judged by those who set you up, and while Naruto is important to Sarutobi, he doesn't have much worth to the rest of the village, unless his lineage is revealed, and you can bet that Minato didn't just have enemies outside of Konoha. Also, do you really think the presence of an ANBU was accidental? Or how his death would have affected the situation? And if you read the letter in the next chapter, you might have noticed the other reason. I rest my case there

To Kazekira (and to all others who are considering Naruto's skills, there's a good description here... though this group really should ignore the insults as they are completely aimed at the flamer... I have to have some fun, no? :P)

As my first flamer on this story allow me to politely greet you by telling you to f*ck off. I'd list a number of other insults but that would be dropping to your level. So I'll just settle with the fact that you didn't have the proverbial b*lls to leave behind any means of contact.

One, in cannon even with limited teaching, Naruto still learned something during his time in the academy. In this story, Naruto massed complex knowledge of chemistry(to the level of producing high-grade explosives, deadly acid or even synthetic, mineral poison), woodworking, metalworking, puppetry, human anatomy, basic field medicine, politics, history, human psychology, herbalism, he possesses a level of chakra control he only reached after his training trip, if not superior to it, and equal chakra capacity. Not to mention all that nasty unpredictability, adaptivity and unstoppable determination that he retains along with a trained intellect capable of applying any of his skills, and enough wit not to charge like an idiot into any situation as well as to keep his emotions mostly under check.

So tell me again,where is your point? Both Kakashi and Itachi had an entire damn system behind them, supporting them as much as humanly possible. Itachi had the Sharingan, which helped him intensely. And all Naruto had was sorely limited aid from Iruka and his books. And he still held up against a fully trained ANBU for a while AS AN ACADEMY STUDENT. Which he, by official rankings, still is

Finally Kakashi got his promotion on the battlefield. If you have half a brain, you'll figure out that the states of WAR and PEACE work somewhat differently on the promotion situation and on personal improvement.

So do tell dear mentally limited fellow, just how is Naruto pathetic?

-*-*-*-*-*-

To Dan

The first part I admit you have a damn good point, they could have simply stowed away aboard a ship. Well, live and learn...

I will only repeat a part of what I stated above, so just read that part. Naruto is quite powerful but he lacks experience that others have... he hasn't had the need to work under pressure of combat before and he's still adapting. Apart from fighting the ANBU in Konoha, and whatever sparring matches he had, he hasn't had a single long fight, as he relied mostly on blitzkrieg assassination tactics (AKA kill them before they get a chance to react properly AKA acting like a real ninja).

Though honestly, I didn't make much of a deal about his kills. So what if it takes him a while to get desensitized about it? It were only his second to third (or was it fourth? Can't seem to remember now) kills. Ever heard of the book 'Crime and Punishment'? Killing, even for someone trained for it, is by no means an easy thing, especially the first (or by some aspects of psychology, second ) time. And he's handling it pretty much just fine. So where's the issue?

Ranks don't mean much except as a reference. I point out the knowledge they gather, not a bragging point. In theory, Naruto can kill anyone, but say, a jounin with two decades of experience behind him isn't as likely to fall for the same tactic as a wet-behind-the-ears genin, you know? Like I said, ranks are general reference rather than set-in-stone levels of power

And speaking of ranks... Naruto is either a) an academy student or b) a civilian. Put that into accounting :D

Of course it wasn't surprising that genin and chunin level ninja were raiding merchants... any ninja of higher level would get a better paying job :D

Oh, and it's likely that Naruto won't hold any rank for a while yet. He doesn't officially work for any village, so....

Regardless, I appreciate the fact that you took the time to write a serious review of my work, even if you didn't have an account (not really a bad thing, just inconvenient for me :P) to send a reply to.

On a side note, I hope the story was at least enjoyable (otherwise I really don't know why you kept reading.)

-*-*-*-*-*-

To all the doubters about his skills, you're about to see him fight for real for the first time since him leaving Konoha. And yes, that means _all_ of his skills, pitted against an enemy far stronger than him.

Seriously people, why do you think he is weak just because I point out that there are people stronger than he is?

Naruto will be revealing the first stages of a new power very soon, maybe even in this chapter. However, I intend to make very little reference to it, so keep your eyes open! Cookies for those who figure it out! (well, as soon as I figure how to mail them :P)

Well, maybe not everything immediately in this chapter, but show a bit of patience :D

As a side note, I absolutely felt the need to put at least one crazy ship captain into my work. Call me insane for it if you want to :P

* * *

_Chapter 8: Chaos Among Waves_

There was no mist on the open sea today. Even with the disturbing frequency at which it gathered around every piece of land the view was as clear as it was possible through the torrential rain that had begun falling. Screw early finished missions, they'd be lucky if they even got there in one piece, though Naruto didn't share that opinion, as his faith in the captain grew with eery passing minute. After all, any man capable of sailing this wreck into a storm, without a sliver of fear was worthy of respect... and the ship hasn't even shown signs of being strained!

The captain barked orders to his subordinates, not in the least affected by the wind and rain as he kept perfect balance on the shifting deck. Yugao was having slight trouble keeping her lunch in, while Haku and Naruto were relatively calm. Relatively, because they were gripping whatever fixture they could for dear life.

"Mezuro! Ask the captain how much longer till we get out of this storm!" Yugao shouted to Naruto, who,being the closest one, forwarded the question. The captain looked at them strangely, as if asking why they were complaining about a little wind and rain.

"Hah! An hour at best." the captain shouted back, returning his focus to steering the ship.

Naruto merely smirked, tightening his hold against the woodwork of the ship, while watching his two companions and the storm around them. He found the foul weather to be surprisingly thrilling. If he had the slightest idea what to do, he'd gladly run out and help the crew keep the ship afloat.

The journey continued ,unabated by the weather, and indeed, within the hour, the small port was in sight. It was still raining, though the wind and thunder had mostly stopped. The ship docked gently, a true testament to the skill of it's navigator and captain, and the gangplank that was quickly extended prepared the ship for the short exchange of goods that would follow.

"Captain, thank you for the fine journey" Naruto spoke in a very respectful voice, offering a slight bow to the grizzled old captain.

"Bah, it's nothin' brat. I was glad to have you kids aboard" he responded, cheerfully laughing as the crew loaded the few crates. "Take good care of them ladies though... and try not to get yourself killed!" he added the last part jovially as he boarded the ship, casting off soon after, and leaving the trio of ninja standing on the abandoned peer.

The small village they just visited was mostly built above the water, on wooden rafters lodged into the stony cliff that surrounded most of the village, apart from a narrow, winding path that lead to the clifftop some ten meters above. It was a defensible position, though it was obvious that the village survived only thanks to the frequent trade and fishing. If there were people currently present, they were either asleep or within their homes. After all, who wanted to stay outside in the horrid weather?

"What's our next move?" Haku asked curiously

"Tenre?" Naruto added

"The village we're supposed to liberate is the next one to the southwest, at about a kilometer from here if the maps are accurate. " she spoke, raising a hand to cover her eyes from the rain. _'But we can't navigate in this weather... and it wouldn't be a good idea to take shelter here... it would draw attention to us'_

"Why don't we just go there now?" Haku asked, slightly confused

"We can't navigate that well while the storm lasts..." Naruto trailed off, slightly annoyed at the fact."And it's much harder to keep on the surface on choppy water."

"I could freeze us a path... and my sensei taught me how to navigate using currents..." Haku trailed off when she saw the surprise on their faces "... you never saw a map of currents before, have you?" both shook their heads in the negative.

Looking around, she moved to the nearest cover, and with a sigh, she pulled up the sleeve of her battle robe, revealing a set of tattoos on her right arm. Gently tracing the strange symbols, she stopped on one, letting a single drop of blood fall onto it, and then sending her chakra to unseal what seemed to be a map. Naruto glanced at the paper curiously, glad that the small piece of roofing above them kept it all dry. He raised his hand channeling just a bit of chakra to form a orb of light. It was a simple, D-rank non-elemental ninjutsu, but most people rarely used it. It was too visible for covert ops, after all.

The map was strange to their eyes, to say the least. The land was there, wide blots of gray among the blue that represented the sea. However, it was the blue part that drew his attention. Carefully charted with lines varying by color from black to white to represent temperature was a highly accurate display of the currents of Water country. While he didn't know it, this piece of paper easily had the worth of a small castle.

"Myself and sensei liberated this map a few years ago. It's highly accurate. But more importantly, it allows perfect navigation by merely using a few simple tricks to follow the currents." Haku explained in a hushed voice, making sure that the map remained unseen. She, unlike the other two had a very good idea just how much the map was valuable... if those slavers knew she had it, they would have gladly killed her for it.

"Since we are here" Naruto pointed at the island he was pretty sure they were on "we just follow this current to our destination, right?" he tried, feeling happy when he received a nod in answer.

"Well? What are we waiting for?" Yugao asked, captured by the growing enthusiasm around her. She liked the slightly younger girl that had joined them. Haku was surprisingly lively, and Naruto opened up to her much easier than she expected

"Right, the sooner we leave this doom and gloom place the better" Naruto shrugged as he turned around, to the surprise of both girls, in the perfectly right direction and started walking towards water, the hood of his vest covering the dyed black hair.

The two kunoichi followed him silently to the edge of the water, where he crouched down, silently descending onto the surface.

"So, how does this work?" Naruto asked, curious to learn a new trick. Haku jumped down, landing noiselessly on the water next to him, while Yugao followed Naruto's example. Haku had trained her water affinity as close to perfection as humanly possible.

"You 'feel' the currents by use of water chakra manipulation. I can't really teach it to you, it would take days.. but I can act as a guide" Haku explained "Just follow me"

And so they left the small, nameless hamlet, proceeding to the southeast, and to their primary target, Teardrop island.

The reason the island got it's name was simple... it was shaped like a drop of water, and whoever was giving names at the time was feeling poetic. The settlement, a densely packed fishing and mining village, by the name of Kotara was the only form of civilization apart from the small, but somewhat rich iron mine.

While they had a friend of sorts there, meeting up with him wasn't really an option. It didn't take open discussion to decide that striking under the cover of night (and preferably rain) was the best option to deal quickly and efficiently with the mercenaries, retaining the advantage of surprise. Naruto tended to abuse that wherever and whenever he could... after all, he had absolutely no qualms about slipping someone a kunai between the ribs if it got the job done and kept his team out of unnecessary danger.

So, the group slipped by under cover of rain. It was hard to tell time due to the general darkness around them, but Naruto liberally assumed it to be around dusk. They had left Habuse at noon, traveled for several hours to the small port, and a few more to here. He wasn't surprised that the village hadn't changed much... after all, they had last been here less than a month ago. Unlike some of the others, this one had no walls or even palisades to protect it, relying in turn on it's narrow streets and stone building walls to provide some measure of cover. From the cobbled streets to the wooden rooftops, the two dozen or so houses were enough to hide more than a small number of mercenaries, and that gave them an advantage.

Even from a safe distance, they could spot figures walking around with torches... guards that were patrolling. They had no idea on numbers, equipment or strength of their enemy. Stealthily slinking into the surrounding woods, the team of three chose a good observation point on a small hill overlooking the village.

"Mezuro, Haku, we break up, scout out and gather back here in thirty minutes. I'll take middle, Haku to the right and Mezuro to the left. Get whatever information you can. Numbers, locations, equipment and anything on their boss." Yugao shortly ordered, assuming command for the time being

_---With_ _Haku---_

The group had broken up quickly and quietly, and Haku proceeded with her part of the job. The actual western part of town was her destination. Silently moving along the undergrowth of the forest, using every possible bit as cover, she once more mentally patted herself on the back for picking a dark colored battle robes, one that was far better suited for sneaking around than the previous ones she had owned.

Quickly crossing the small break between the forest and the nearest house, she soundlessly leaped onto the roof, nearly lying down to hide herself. On the other side of the small house were two guards... it didn't take any special skills to notice them, considering that they were talking rather loudly. On the small plaza beyond, she noticed three more, and idly noted the dark figure of what was most likely Tenre on one of the roofs ahead of her. Mezuro was nowhere in sight.

With her normally very visible red clothes, she was surprised that her female friend was nearly completely invisible in the night. She hadn't really been able to make a fair judgment of the level of skill the two she worked with possessed. Tenre, she could divine a bit. She knew the older girl had an edge over her in both skill and experience, and that sword she carried was by all means _lethal_. She couldn't pick out any ninjutsu or genjutsu, but her apparent tracking and tactical skills were top notch. Mezuro was a nightmare to place. He never showed much, and in the few days she was there, he was mostly stuck inside his workshop doing god knows what. She had noticed small signs of sealwork, something with which she wasn't overly familiar with (she had paid an expert a tidy sum to create those storage tattoos on her arm), but that was about it

Haku placed herself somewhere around a low ranking jounin in power and skill, but comparatively to her... she had next to no idea where the two were on that scale, but she had a sinking feeling that they were ahead of her. Both the confidence and general ease at which they operated told her as much.

But she had noticed the beginning of trends among them. Mezuro was confident in his skills, or very aware of them more likely. He didn't like overextending himself and didn't like going in blind, if the twitches she saw at several times were any indication. Tenre was in some aspects his opposite, being far more relaxed with working blind and adapting, though whether this was a mater of preference or experience was yet to be seen

She silenced her rampant thoughts. This was no time to be wondering. Reminding herself of the ten guards she had noticed so far... no, eleven, there was one in the bathroom of the house she had just left, she moved on. The mission wouldn't accomplish itself. She was just about to turn around and return to the meeting point when she heard the start of what promised to be a very enlightening conversation

_--With Yugao--_

Silently darting between buildings, Yugao did her part of the job with great efficiency. She had counted five men in her sector, all of them lightly armed thugs with a sword at best, and clubs at worst. However, what annoyed her were the hostages being kept. In two houses, she had noted a number of children, along with four guards each... most likely used as insurance that the villagers wouldn't rebel... if she had to guess, they were most likely forced to work in the mines, if the small numbers present meant anything. This job wouldn't be as easy as it first appeared, and worse still, she hadn't located the high-profile target. If the bastard was in the mines along with the populace, they were royally screwed.

Letting go of her predictions for now, she focused on the task ahead. There was still about a half of her sector to check, Haku was nearing the end of hers, and Naruto... to her shock, Naruto was done already. Since when was he so fast?

_--With Naruto--_

The black haired teen stood silently at the eastern end of the village, recounting all that he had seen so far. Ten guards, each armed with different weapons, but mostly low-grade trash. Their only real advantage were numbers, something that they likely used to bully the people of the village into submission. It just made things more complicated.

His thoughts went to thinking up a suitable plan as he sneaked back to the clearing. A two-pronged assault, one group attacking the mines, while the other hit the town was the only real option that would avoid the loss of civilian life, something that was generally frowned upon. After all, why bother hiring ninjas if conventional mercenaries (who are also cheaper) would get the job done?

It was an annoyance, one he cared little for, and would likely get them killed unless they were careful. And worse still, the main threat was not present.

Thinking things out, he found that he was most likely the best choice for an attack on the mines, as he could hide and sneak about the easiest. Yugao had complimented him several times on that... if he wanted he trulycould become _invisible _to all but the finest trackers. Civilians, even veteran killers, had nothing on him. Only a ninja stood much of a chance at figuring him out

Smiling at the basis of a plan that would work, he settled down at the clearing,closing his eyes and letting his other senses overtake his focus. There were things no amount of training could improve, and making one's eyes see in the dark without some sort of jutsu or drug was impossible.

He shut off the pointless train of thought as he heard the fainest of footsteps. His slightly enhanced hearing barely managed to pick them up.'_Likely Haku... I can't pick out Yugao at all_'

Still, trained paranoia dictated his actions, and he opened his eyes immediately, his left hand twitching to let slip a kunai from the holster on his wrist. However, he dropped the guard soon, as he felt the temperature around him drop ever so slightly as the girl closed in. No mistake about it, it was Haku.

Seconds later, a third figure approached, making intentional noises just loud enough for the two of them to hear...Yugao.

_(20:00, Eastern Fire Country, border with Wave Country)_

Five figures made camp near the shoreline, the small campsite being well concealed into the thick woods. There was a small fire going, and the five men gathered around it. The metal plates with the stylized carving of a leaf revealed easily who four out of the five were. Konoha shinobi.

Tazuna, the master bridge builder of Wave country tiredly eyed the four that were sent to escort him. The smallest of the four, had identified himself as Shino Aburame. The kid had short black hair, and that was all he could tell about him, since most of him was covered by his ankle-long gray, high-collared trenchcoat, and a pair of opaque, black shades covered his eyes. The boy was eerily silent the entire journey, and the only signs that he wasn't some sort of zombie was the fact that he wold occasionally share silent looks with his two teammates and sensei, along with some sort of beetle that would land on his finger.

The second, was a tall, wiry youth by the name of Shikamaru Nara. He had only slightly longer hair, all of it tied up into a pineapple shaped tail. Unlike Shino, he seemed a bit more open, though he hardly seemed normal as well. He was dressed lightly, in a pair of long, black cargo pants and a mesh shirt covering the fishnet beneath it.

Probably the scariest of the three was Chouji Akimichi. Standing easily taller _and_ larger than the other two, the 'chubby' ninja (if anyone actually had the guts to call him that) was a sigh that would bring fear. Dressed in his family's traditional red scale armor, with a long brownish mane of hair held back by his hitai-ate, along with a massive naginata that was effortlessly carried around on his back. Still, out of the three of them, he was the most communicative, and didn't stay silent, or mutter about things being troublesome. In fact, he found a rather interesting common subject of cooking with the boy.

The team leader, Asuma Sarutobi was by no means a slouch himself. The unusually large man was mostly quiet, though he would occasionally strike up a conversation with either Shikamaru or Chouji, or even one-sided conversations with Shino, though he had the distinct impression that the quiet boy was responding in some way that he couldn't figure out..

"Tazuna-san, how bad is the situation in Wave?" Asuma asked seriously, shortly pulling the cigar from his mouth.

"Very bad. Right now, the only thing stopping Gato from completely crushing the country is my son-in-law, Kaiza. And it's only a question of time before Gato sends his men to kill him off." Tazuna responded "We're losing food supplies, medicine is already gone, and Gato keeps bringing in mercenaries from the Water country civil war" he trailed off.

"You're outnumbered and outclassed." Shikamaru added his two cents"Out of curiosity, how did you manage to field enough money for a B-rank?"

Tazuna sighed silently as he considered how to answer the boy's question. Truth was, it was their last hope. He would have preferred to call in help from Kirigakure, but that village was of the maps until the war ended, so they were forced to turn to a slightly more expensive alternative... Konoha. Everyone gathered whatever money or jewelry they could, whatever wasn't already taken by the thugs. He was somewhat disappointed to get what seemed a fresh genin team, but when those genin effortlessly took out a pair of what were supposed to be superior ninja within seconds, he understood just why the kids got the job.

The others present understood some part of that sigh, mostly as a statement of 'do not ask', while the obvious sadness told everything else. It was a last-ditch attempt.

Shikamaru sighed himself. A long time had passed since Naruto vanished from Konoha. He still remembered when the Hokage himself paid a visit to him, Chouji and Shino a few days after they sparred. They were training in the Akimichi clan grounds, as academy students weren't allowed to use official training fields, and the small clearing they had used wasn't really an option. They hadn't seen Naruto around in a while, but that happened occasionally, as the blond immersed himself into his studies, always coming back with a new surprise. The time before he pulled out the puppet in front of them, it was the henge, a full year before they were supposed to learn it.

However, what Hiruzen Sarutobi stated that day had killed a part of him. He had, having already summoned their parents there as well, bluntly stated that the Council of Konoha, under the guidance of one Danzo Shimura effectively framed Naruto Uzumaki of treason, and that as a last option against permanently destroying his life, he was forced to go into self-imposed exile. And yes, that he said he was sorry.

The weight of what the aged Hokage had stated, and the murderous look in his eyes were more than enough to persuade him that he wasn't the one responsible, so he couldn't in good mind hold much anger against him, so it turned to those who were. How could he, with all his intellect ever believe the rulers of his home again if that was what they did to people who were completely loyal to them? Sure, Naruto was eccentric at times, but he was a damn good kid, the kind any parent would be proud to have as a soon. Choza Akimichi had stated so himself several times, and both of his close friends, Inoichi Yamanaka and Shikaku Nara were of similar minds.

They had changed since then. The normally lighthearted Chouji took to his clan's combat training with gusto, and by the time they had finished the academy, neither of his two friends stood a chance against him in pure melee combat. But the price for that was that the boy had built a shell around himself, and the only ones who ever saw him out of it were his family and close friends.

Shino had become almost completely silent, much like some of the older members of his clan. His beetles and kukri spoke for him when it was needed. But still, he never alienated his friends, and apart from the occasional odd word, he silently communicated with them, mostly through subtle gestures they learned how to figure out..

He on the other hand hadn't visibly changed at all, and the paired spools of ninja wire hanging off of his belt were the one of the few signs of his improved skills. The other was his vastly improved physique. Ever since he and the others had joined Naruto in training, it had stopped being 'troublesome' for him,and he had to admit that he now enjoyed pushing himself to his limits from time to time

However, those were just the surface changes. Inside the three of them had lost something. Perhaps it was the final knowledge that even if they truly were loyal, they could still be declared traitors just because it was convenient for someone, perhaps it was the fact that they were now even more aware that they would be outside risking their lives while politicians who had either been off the battlefield too long or were never there in the first place gambled with them.

He quietly mused that perhaps they lost their innocence that day. An ironic chuckle escaped at the thought as he made himself comfortable against the tree. His was the first watch, and it would do him no good to simply fall asleep while it lasted.

A part of him still wondered what Naruto was doing, and if he was even still alive. And another of what would have happened if he hadn't left.

Of all the group, Asuma was the only one who just couldn't fall asleep. The chain-smoking jounin was glad to have gotten the team. After all, Shikamaru, Chouji and Shino were a full team even before they left the academy by graduating early. They would have likely stayed there for another year his father, Hiruzen not decided to offer them a chance at being a team. He wasn't really sure what the old man was smoking when he said that, but he quickly realized just how much of a team the three were. When he was briefed on the fact that Naruto Uzumaki was the driving force behind their leaps in improvement, he could only chuckle. It wasn't much of a mirthful chuckle, more an ironic, tired one. For the strongest of the shinobi villages, Konoha made mistakes far, far too often.

He also remembered the evening after Naruto's exile. It was never made public, but a number of people went missing in the following days. Of course, it didn't help the case that all those in charge were the ones that made the missing. There was of course that old relic, Danzo, but ever since Hiruzen snapped, the old war-hawk was not only out of room to maneuver, but apparently ROOT decided he was no longer fitting to lead, and shifted command to a new person, his identity known only to the hokage himself.

'_Well, I might as well join Shikamaru on watch if I can't sleep. Maybe play a game of Shogi or two..._'

_(21:00, Teardrop Island, Village of Kotara)_

"Are we in agreement?" Naruto quietly asked as they went over the last details of their plan, preparing to finally split up, and agreeing on such things as id codes and such. Things like those couldn't be left for once the plan was in action.

"Hai"came the simultaneous response from the two girls, both ready to do their part.

"Okay, we met in an hour on top of the tavern there" Naruto finally added, before he broke off to the mines, his target for the night. His breathing had quickened, coming in short, strong breaths. He could feel the tension of each and every one of his muscles, the clothes and tape that moved against them, the two kunai in his arms, covered in a strong and quickly acting paralyzing agent.

Under the dark cover of his hood, the face of Uzumaki Naruto settled into an emotionless mask as the boy silently moved, a black shadow against the dark ground as he leaned very close to the ground.

At the mines, only a single guard was watching the entrance, so Naruto did what he did best. He waited for the man to make an opening, then silently swung in from above, immediately hiding behind some crates. He waited for a few moments until the guard turned around before rushing onwards into the dark, twisting corridors of the iron mine. As long as a general alarm wasn't raised, he was free to knock out or kill _anyone_ he came across.

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Yugao stepped up to the home silently, noting Haku's presence on the other side. There were three men inside the building, all grouped together into one room, playing cards. The poor light made it easy to sneak up close and personal, but the situation demanded that they be taken out at the same time, and silently.

Yugao prepared herself, and threw a small pebble near where she knew Haku was. As soon as it hit, she moved, heading straight through the open window with an arsenal of kunai in her hands, letting all eight of them loose at her targets. At the same time, a number of ice senbon pierced critical points along their bodies. Before they even noticed that they were attacked, the three thugs were nothing more than corpses. Yugao and Haku even managed to hit them so that they wouldn't cause much of a noise.

Quickly recovering her kunai, both ladies made a quick exit, chalking up the numbers on the casualty lists. Three down, twenty two more to go

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The guard in front of him was overseeing the loading area. Naruto noted that the majority of the workers were there. Quietly stalking up to the man, he placed his handover his mouth as he slit his throat, quietly setting up a shadow clone to impersonate him. He didn't want to risk placing more such clones, because they could easily get discovered, but people at critical places had to be covered, at least until he had free reign of the area.

Leaning down, he continued past the cavern, and into the area he guessed that the leader of the bunch, Kamizo Numari was at. There were four more guards inside to take care of, and the final one at the entrance. Hands silently moved into a handseal, and three clones formed out of the shadows around him, three equally silent figures that moved out to kill or disable their targets, whatever produced less noise.

'_Try and ambush him, don't let him trap you... as if that was even possible_' he mentally ranted as he moved on, quietly taking down two more guards with a quick blow to the neck. The office was just there, a small lean-to, where the mine foreman probably worked before the thugs descended on this place.

The overall plan of the mines was a simple one, two large chambers connected to each other and to the outside by long corridors. The first chamber was a large cavern, where the vein of ore was closest to surface, while the second one contained the foreman's office and some supplies.

The seemingly hastily erected lean-to was probably the only construction here apart for the numerous support pillars. The man relaxing on the sole chair there was looking over some papers, all the while playing with the dagger in his hands. Naruto quickly recognized the person from the picture. His target.

Naruto silently cursed as he realized that he had stepped on a tripwire... and that his target wasn't nearly as unprepared as he had believed.

"Hello ninja-san" came the chillingly cheerful voice as the figure on the chair turned around, a strange, long wavy dagger in his right arm, the blade coated green with poison "Can I interest you in a little game?"

Naruto once more cursed as he noticed another details, previously concealed by his position...ninja tools

Naruto remained silent, knowing well that if the man was prepared for intrusion, he also likely had several traps set around... and right now, he had to be very careful.

And then there were the tools. Usually, even the most accomplished criminals would have little expertise with using objects such as smoke pellets, flash bombs, shuriken and many others, and he spotted the first two there already. The record had mentioned use of traps and daggers, and he was pretty sure that poison was listed somewhere around there. Poison was a nasty little thing, and he didn't want to find out if Kyuubi's chakra was able to heal him up from something lethal.

The seemingly insane man kept laughing as he rose from his chair, the plans momentarily forgotten as he spotted a new victim.

"Why don't I make this a bit more comfortable, hm?" he continued, a finger twitching shortly. Naruto barely had the chance to move away as a dozen blades fell from the cave roof, but not before Naruto had sent a single kunai back at him. Kamizo effortlessly dodged the blade, all the while pulling another invisible string.

In seconds, the fight had escalated into a storm of flying, poisoned blades from both sides, as Kamizo kept springing traps and throwing his own stash of weapons, while Naruto quickly ran out, and was forced to use those from the traps. But still, for a non-shinobi, Naruto found the man to be very challenging. Had he the time, he would have laughed at the irony of him thinking that.

But he didn't, and this fight had to be over fast, as the clones had already begun evacuating the people inside past the dead or unconscious guards... and he didn't want to find out if the man had a taste for explosives as well.

Silently cursing the fact that he didn't take the precaution of pulling out his two puppets, he resigned himself to work with the resources he had. He would once more have to adapt and overcome.

Kamizo stared the hooded boy down with unmasked interest. After all, it wasn't every day that his well-set defenses pick up a boy trying to sneak by so expertly. Any of the oafs he was forced to work with were easy to detect, but this had been literally a shadow. Had he not used spider-silk to make a tripwire along several choice routes, he never would have known he was coming. Kamizo Numari was neither a fool nor a madman, but a cold, calculated man who merely liked to put off his enemies by laughing in the face of their deaths. This one was not in that group, and he was sure that if he wasn't careful, all the years of hiding the skills he possessed would be for nothing.

However, he was anything but ready when he saw over a hundred of his poisoned blades, carefully prepared over weeks and months, and sealed with his very limited knowledge of chakra (after all, if ninjas used sealing scrolls, what stopped more experienced criminals from doing so?) rapidly rise into the air, as if held by invisible hands, before they, as one plunged into his body.

Naruto sighed tiredly as he watched the man's corpse fall down to the hard earth, impaling itself on several blades already there. The place had been turned into a battleground, an had he not taken the precaution of removing the civilians beforehand, there would have been deaths, and he really wasn't in the mood to consider the possibility of his own. As he got up his hand gently brushed the uneven surface of the rock, and he idly wondered just why was there such a deep gash against it's surface. Letting the thought slide, he walked over to the man, knelt down, and quickly cut off his head before sealing it up. A little extra cash never hurt anyone.

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Yugao smirked victoriously as she watched Naruto arrive followed by most of the village populace some half an hour after they had cleared up the mess in the town. She could have sworn she had seen a blush of embarrassment on his face from all the positive attention he was getting. The poor brat wasn't used to it, and now she had yet another excuse to tease him.

The town was cleaned up of all the trash, the corpses piled up and burning downwind, while the surviving thugs were all comfortably tied up, and already interrogated. Oh, the juicy bits of intel they had gleaned from their ravings before they knocked them out. Looks like their plans might just have moved forward a bit...

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**Author's notes: **A bit shorter than usual... though the writer's block was annoying as hell. Well, this has been the last of the slow chapters for a while. To those who have comments on the thoughts of the new team under Asuma's command, keep in mind that those are their thoughts, and limited by their knowledge of the situation. As sympathetic as Sarutobi is, he isn't a fool, and Asuma's knowledge is only a bit over the average.

Also, since college is starting to take more and more time yet again, I don't know how often I'll be able to update, but the next update will most likely be A Demon Among Reapers, followed by Spellbound and finally Determination.

Well, I won't bother you any more. Till next update, read and review folks


	9. Wave : Birds of Prey

**Author's Ramblings: **Hey everyone, I've finished yet another chapter of this story. My lack of inspiration to write several other stories combined with the general lack of time thanks to college has left me with writing only what I feel like lately...

Well, I won't post much here, just a warning. Don't expect things to go as you were used to, kay? :D

The perspective will keep shifting constantly through this chapter, as we go through the events of each group present in Wave country. Keep in mind though, since Haku and Zabuza aren't here, someone else takes their place, and I ain't tellin' who :D

* * *

_Chapter 9 : Wave : Birds of Prey  
_

The atmosphere in the village was delightful that night, as the people celebrated their liberation, even with the repeated warnings from the three ninja about being careful and making sure to be ready should the attackers return. He hadn't paid much attention to the events, opting to leave the diplomacy to Yugao, while he focused on the spoils of war.

Naruto couldn't stop grinning wildly at the information Yugao and Haku relayed to him. Gato may be a competent and capable criminal as well as businessman, but lack of common sense killed greater men than him. To think that the fool had actually pulled back all of his money and stashed it in one place... and to think Yugao and Haku managed to draw out so many details on the target area. He really didn't want to know just how they did it.

Like a little child on Christmas, Naruto was searching through the pile of weapons, gleefully laughing whenever he found something that piqued his interest. Over a hundred weapons, many of them completely unknown to him by either design, or means of production, covered by over a dozen different poisons, all new to him. Firing mechanisms and triggers used to arm and set off the traps that were used against him, the thin strands of spider-silk used to trigger them... everything he had gathered was a treasure trove of immensely useful information and ideas.

The small room he had been given had it's floor covered with rolled open storage scrolls, weapons and tools carefully arranged on them as they were unsealed, while he inspected them with the help of three other shadow clones. He could have likely created more, but he was in no rush. According to the mayor of the small village, they could smuggle themselves aboard one of the trade ships that passed there weekly, and conveniently arrived tomorrow. After that, it would be a simple matter to leave at some point and arrive at Wave Country.

One of the more fascinating weapons was a massive object similar to a windmill shuriken, however, unlike the normal ones he had seen in Konoha, this one had only three blades. But that wasn't the part that fascinated him, no, it was the part where the blades folded into themselves down to a small disc that could easily fit into his pockets, and all that without losing any of their strength. Unlike the other weapons he had gathered, this one was of unusual quality, and something he had decided to set aside, as it had truly piqued his interest.

Content with his finds, he summoned another shadow clone to replace him, as he pulled out the scroll that contained his newest puppet, his work of the past few days ever since the Thunder Weaver was complete... that wasn't to say that the two complete puppets were left alone. Naruto was a firm believer in weapon modernization.. if you had an upgrade, by Kami you applied it. And the ideas from the triggers and launchers promised some entertaining results. If his calculations were correct, with the new upgrades he had made, the newest addition to his arsenal would be complete by tomorrow, as he finally had a decent solution for that firing chamber problem.

Additionally, he had neglected his ninjutsu training, an issue he knew could come to bite him in the backside. His thoughts returned to the fight during last night, especially to what he had done with his chakra strings. Certainly, such ideas were not new, however, not once in the writings of his sensei did he note any mention of so many strings being made at once. And then there were those scratches the strings had made on the rocks. It was a concept that intrigued him greatly, the idea of using the chakra strings themselves as weapons, instead of just a tool to connect him to his puppets. The idea of countless razor-sharp invisible strings floating in the air brought a smile to his face, not to mention that it fit the concept of shinobi that he had in his mind perfectly. Stealthy and lethal.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Not far from him, Yugao was enjoying a relaxing hour of practice, content that the celebration was finally over, and that Naruto was, as ever, busy with his work. Haku had taken to practicing with her ice jutsu as well, leaving her nice and alone to work on her sword skills, and finally try something she had been planning to do for days now, a new move.

Still, standing in a small clearing, while a number of small children were watching wasn't exactly her idea of training, though he argued that beggars couldn't be choosers. With a small smile to the children, she unsheathed her blade, ignoring the 'ooh's and 'aaah's that her action brought from them. The perfectly smooth edge of the long, slightly curved sword silently slid out of it's sheath. She had spent a good amount of time balancing the blade so that she could easily wield it with one hand, while the other used either the scabbard, or one-handed seals for the few jutsu she could perform that way. She had long since accepted that she lacked both the enthusiasm and the talent for most ninjutsu, and while genjutsu came a bit easier, it was nearly impossible to perform in close quarters, forcing her to once more adapt, just like her closest friend.

She focused on that mater as she held her sword for a moment, letting the reflection of the early morning light hit her in the face. The one solid fixture in her life was Naruto, and the one certainty she had was the bond they shared. _'More than friends, less than lovers' _she idly mused as the sheath of the sword dropped to the ground, and she gripped the handle with both hands. _'Wonder what he thinks of me? Maybe I should ask him' _she continued, raising the sword into an overhead position, edge facing skywards as she prepared for a horizontal slashthat would take full advantage of the spin. However, that wasn't the purpose of the move. The smirk widened as she realized that the chakra she had been molding had formed perfectly.

Tensed muscles moved instantly, the sword swinging at an incredible speed. The kids weren't impressed by it that much... until the ground in the direction of her slash was shredded by nothingness. She could only smile proudly... her plan had worked. The Double Cut, as she had named the move, worked like a charm. Maybe she'd get the chance to battle-test it once they left for Wave tomorrow.

Calming her infectious smile, she returned to practicing the katas as she did for years now, letting her mind descend into a state of trance and relaxation, as her last thoughts were of her now-raven haired friend.

The familiar embrace of oblivion was comforting, as one by one, her higher mental functions shut down. The act of practice was long since turned into an act of meditation by her teachers, as it allowed her to practice, but keep her mind sharp and ready, while simultaneously making her body learn the moves by instinct. One by one, her thoughts faded away... _cut, sidestep..._ leaving behind nothing but focus..._twist,upward slash..._ and movement that flowed without thought or direction, gaining momentum with every swing. Soon, the blows slowed down, the short period of calmness expiring as her mind once more started moving normally.

The Infinite Gate, that was what her mentor called the style. And for all his teachings, she was never forced to truly use it against any foe. Naruto had once come close to forcing her into it, but she really didn't want to use it on him. By definition, almost every style of the sword was a killing style, however, the Infinite Gate was one of the few that truly specialized in killing. The mental and physical conditioning that it required to work properly was frightening, but the effects it brought were equally so. It was her trump card, her equalizer for a foe that proved far stronger.

Wiping the sweat from her brow, she noticed that the children were awestruck by her practice, and that the sun had passed it's zenith. She had been at it for more than two hours. It was time for a break.

_(12:00, Konoha, Sarutobi estate)_

The gentle sound of rain was a welcome change from the drab monotony of the past week, or at least Hiruzen Sarutobi thought so. Oh yes, he was a happy man now, in more ways than one, but a few things were still missing for it all to be complete.

Ever since the incident with the council half a year ago, the tired old man had reminded everyone just why he was the God of Shinobi. A mischievous grin came to his face at the reminder of what he had done. By invoking a number of old laws, and using them as a base to prepare and pass a number of new ones, as well as garnering the support of the Daimyo to override any opposition from the council, Konoha had truly returned to it's roots.

The civilian half of the Council of Fire was disbanded completely, and the shinobi half had taken up their part of the duty, with an increase in efficiency that was disturbing. A number of the council members ended up in jail for embezzlement, fraud and blatant thievery on their account... though he had personally had those people set up with additional crimes to make sure that their influence was eliminated. After all, they had almost set up a _very_ dangerous precedent, and he was more than happy to show them his opinion on the subject.

Danzo, another source of irritation was dealt with by his own organization, as they politely reminded him that they had chosen him, not the other way around. Apparently, the shadow council that made every major decision in the group didn't appreciate what the man had done, and were more than willing to wash their hands of him, as well as deliver full reports and files on his activities since he took the position. There were more than a few disturbing events there, which while for the general benefit of Konoha, had actually instituted a great amount of influence and power, all gathered in one man, Danzo Shimura. Well, too bad he had miscalculated just once.

The constant power-plays, the aftermath of the Kyuubi attack, the Uchiha massacre, the Hyuuga incident, and finally Naruto's exile. All events that had considerably sapped the strength of his home, either militarily or politically. The bills passed by the council had reduced the requirements for the graduating genin in the academy, reducing it to a mere handful of tests and as little as three simple jutsu, and then crying when their children got killed in the line of duty... or being happy once their shinobi position allowed them to amass even more influence and power. They couldn't reduce the number of active ninja in hope to garner greater profits because a number understood the sheer idiocy of such a move. Not to mention that Danzo had pulled every bit of influence he had to erase every thought of such an action from their minds. The man may be power-hungry, but he isn't a fool.

Still, the day held one last meeting he wasn't looking forward to. Jiraya was coming home today, and he had yet to speak with him since before Naruto's exile, and if he knew his student even a bit, there was likely going to be a lot of collateral damage.

That thought of course, brought forth another reminder of the night of Naruto's exile. The workshop, which had been impossible to find before, had been found... by an unfortunate ROOT agent that got blown into smithereens when a sequence of exploding tags reduced the hidden cellar to rubble, as well as the building above it. He was certain that Naruto knew that those were uninhabited. The boy wasn't a fool.

Leaning back into his chair, he kept looking at the rain beyond his porch, his hand gently picking up the cup of tea he had been drinking. Of course, not even this perfect moment could last.

"Hokage-sama" came the voice of one of his ANBU agents. Owl, unless he was mistaken.

"Yes?"

"Jiraya-sama has arrived. Also, one of the two scout teams from the northern border has returned with just one survivor." the owl-masked ANBU reported, earning a barely perceptible nod from Sarutobi, before the old man sighed.

"I see. Contact Inoichi Yamanaka, and tell him to meet me at the hospital where the survivor is. What's his name by the way?"

"Arizaki, sir" the ANBU responded, vanishing seconds later after a dismissive wave from Sarutobi. In the words of one of his younger ninja, the day had just gotten more troublesome.

_(24 hours from then, Wave Country island)_

Shikamaru groaned irritatedly as he was faced with even more mist. Didn't this country have anything _but_ water and mist? He had to force a second groan down as he noted the rickety boat in which they were supposed to cross the narrow straight between Wave country and the mainland, vaguely aware of the massive form of the bridge in the distance. Shino was being his usual quiet self, while Chouji had chosen to take a snack in the form of an energy bar. Asuma and Tazuna were silent, as well as the man who drove the boat.

"That's some bridge you're building Tazuna-san" Shikamaru commented in a quiet voice, just loud enough to be heard. Asuma had warned them to keep all conversation quiet, if they had to speak at all.

"Aye, it will be, once it's finished" the self-proclaimed super bridge-builder responded, a look of longing and pride covering his face "Thankfully my son-in-law is still protecting it. I just hope nothing happened while I was gone."

Little did Tazuna know just what had happened in his absence...

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On a nondescript shore on the northern side of the island, three figures slowly rose from the sea, These weren't by any means beings of myth and legend, dark forms from the deep there to torment the insolent surfacers that polluted their homes, or worse still, followers of some deranged octopus-like god. No, they were simply shinobi. Perhaps that was even worse.

Naruto chuckled as he removed the breathing mask from his mouth. He had to give it to her, Haku knew her infiltration techniques perfectly, especially where it concerned the use of terrain here. The design of the rebreathers fascinated him, as the devices not only protected from drowning, but were capable of filtering out gasses as well... something that gave him ideas concerning poison once more. After all, if he could walk past clouds of toxin while his enemies couldn't, what was to stop him from throwing them everywhere around him?

He blinked once, a stray thought running across his mind. Was he really thinking that much about ninja equipment an stuff?

"I need a hobby..." he quietly muttered, trailing off as Haku and Yugao snickered behind him.

"We should be at the north beach," Haku stated after calming down "there should be a small village to the southwest, I can't remember the name though. If anywhere, Gato's base should be at the old castle at the southern tip of the island" she finished her impromptu report.

"So what's the plan?" Yugao asked curiously. She wanted to know what Naruto had planned, as this entire gig was his plan and operation. She'd follow along.

"Haku, you're less threatening, and harder to spot. I want you to snoop around the village. I'd suggest a disguise first, it would likely attract less attention. Dig out the gossip, rumors and any useful information you can" Naruto started.

"Tenre, I need you to check the region for the presence of any of the three reported shinobi, or any outsiders to the region. Count them, evaluate them if you can, but don't reveal yourself. Once you consider yourself finished, regroup and meet up with Haku"

Naruto stopped for a moment, going through his mental checklist. He had cleared up most of what came to mind apart for two things: a base of operations and a meeting point. So far the only area not mentioned was the east of the island.

"Any usable areas for a base of operations on the eastern side of the island Haku?" he added.

"Mmm.... yes, there should be a cavern we can use there there" she responded, thinking for a moment

"Good. That will be the meeting point then. Twenty four hours from now, we meet there, consolidate our information, and make plans for the day after."

"Oh, and don't get killed Mezuro" Yugao called before leaving.

"Don't worry too much" Naruto responded before jumping off.

And so, they broke off, Haku and Yugao heading towards the small village while Naruto proceeded due south, towards the castle.

_~~~~~~~~~~With Haku~~~~~~~~~~~~_

After breaking up with Tenre, Haku finally got the time to get prepared for her part of the mission. The rather complete description of their goals here surprised her, as she hadn't really expected them to trust her that much yet, and she decided to repay that trust in full... not to mention that she stood to make quite the profit from this. Just how they intended to rob Gato blind was still beyond her (and them most likely, but that was hardly important), but she still remembered what her own teacher said was the key word on missions such as this – improvisation.

She was surprised when she did a recheck of her inventory after her release to find that the slavers hadn't found any of her hidden cashes, especially the large tattoo on her right forearm. The matrix of seals there served several purposes, but the main one was to store things inside. The others served as either a store of reserve chakra or.... she really didn't want to think about it now, not with him dead.

Among the things stored, she kept several disguises, including a set of rags, and sufficient makeup to hide all her feminine features.

She quickly undressed, ignoring the cold air as she began applying everything to her body with great efficiency. Within a short span of twenty minutes, there stood a street rat in his teens, dressed in ragged, but durable clothes. The tattoo on her arm, as well as her breast were covered carefully, showing no signs of presence. Even if she did look a bit effeminate, there was no mistaking her for anything but a boy.

Taking one last look at herself in the small stream, she contently hummed, and walked away towards the village, making sure to suppress as much of her chakra as possible

_~~~~~~~~~~~With Naruto~~~~~~~~~~~~_

Naruto was getting bored after an hour of travel southward. It wasn't that the road was that long, but that he had to avoid several mercenary camps along the way. He took the time to count out the men present, and scout out their equipment before moving on. They were operating in hostile territory, and according to the teachings of his dead sensei (and common sense, really) knowledge was power.

Still, that didn't help to keep the boredom of doing the same thing over and over again from settling in. If anything, the camps he passed grew thicker as he approached the castle, indicating that it was likely the home of his target. The though of the plan he had made for after this was the only thing that kept him going. That is until said castle came into sight

_'That is a castle? What the hell was Haku smoking?' _he inwardly groaned as he viewed the three story high fortified mansion. The difference however, while sounding funny, was not to their benefit. Regardless of the level of organization, from what he remembered, castles had a lot more security holes that ninja could abuse. Mansions were built on a different principle, and fortified ones were the worst, for prospective ninja anyway. Times may have changed since those lines were written, but he doubted he was that lucky. Still, according to the info Haku and Yugao had gathered, there were around two hundred mercenaries here, and so far he had only spotted around one hundred. If those that were sent to Teardrop island were from here, that would mean that he had around one hundred and fifty left, which meant that the last of the group was likely inside the fortified mansion.

The architect had a keen mind, as the building was erected on a small plateau, with a single, narrow road serving as it's access. Around the edge of it, thick walls surrounded the mansion, providing it with a safe garden. He had his doubts concerning the walls, but seal experts were hard to find, and he knew of no material that would stop the channeling of chakra, therefore, climbing over the walls was an option. However, it was still broad daylight, and not a good time to practice infiltration here. While he was quite good, he'd get spotted sooner or later, and that wasn't yet an option. He would have to wait for night to fall, while getting some rest first.

So, picking out a suitable branch, he tethered himself to it, and slowly drifted to sleep. Gods, he missed his comfortable chair back at the office.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~With Team Asuma~~~~~~~~~~~~_

Tazuna's home was one of the few places in Wave country that still reminded of the peace and prosperity that had been there until a few years ago. While the paint on the stone and plaster walls had mostly faded to a dull gray, and visible cracks had shown up near the bottom of the exterior walls, the house itself was still very lively.

On the front porch, A young boy was speaking with a few years older ninja, though more than a few people would laugh if they heard the subject of the discussion, or growing argument, depending on your point of view.

With Shikamaru and Shino on watch, Asuma, Tazuna, Tsunami and Kaiza sat around a table that was brought outside. Even in the clod weather, it was still pleasant to sit, and no one among them minded, though they did dress warmly.

"He seems so much like a normal kid" Tsunami commented, smiling lightly, while looking at Chouji arguing with her son, Inari over the subject of 'Which food is the best', with neither giving any ground on rather disturbingly accurate culinary argument. Asuma could only chuckle at the absurdity of the situation, but he was glad that at least he was opening up again, even if only by a bit

"Like this, he does" Asuma slowly responded, taking a long draw from his ever-lit cigar.

"I think it's sad, to see kids lose their childhood so early" Kaiza added his own thoughts, while the others simply nodded, Asuma being sadly reminded of Naruto. He really had nothing against the kid, as he seemed to be, along with Konohamaru, a bright spot in his father's life, even with the Kyuubi sealed in him. And while he knew that the boy had never suffered physically, loneliness was a terrible thing.

"Well, at least your son is luckier. Even with all of this, he seems quite content" Asuma responded, getting a nod from Tsunami and Kaiza, while Tazuna merely pulled a chug from his bottle of sake.

Asuna could already feel the coming headache as Shino and Shikamaru returned from their watch, an unusually grim look on Shikamaru's face, as he really couldn't tell with Shino and his glasses.

"Anything to report?" Asuma asked, though he had a feeling the answer was yes.

"We just had to take down two groups of thugs that were lugging explosives to the bridge" Shikamaru irritatedly commented, turning for a moment to Shino who gave a barely perceptible nod. "Oh, and we managed to persuade on of the thugs to talk a little. There seems to be a group of three shinobi working for Gato. Ranks unknown, but certainly over genin. Shino left a clone to watch over the area until we send the next shift"

Asuma quietly nodded as he pulled out a piece of paper and began quickly writing something down on it. Content with the writing, he got up, biting his right thumb shortly and smearing the blood across the other fingertips, before flashing through a string of handseals and slamming his hand to the ground. Shino and Shikamaru were the only ones to notice and recognize the rapidly expanding network of strange symbols that represented the Summoning jutsu. A puff of smoke, and a moment later, there stood a small monkey. The intelligent animal was around two feet tall, with completely white hair, and strangely enough, dressed in a comfortable robe with a staff slung over his back and a minuscule bottle of sake on his belt.

"Hey Asuma-chan, you needed me for something?" the monkey joked, but his face turned serious at the sight of Asuma's growing irritation, and apparent seriousness. "You're no fun, you know that?"

"I know Ganso, you take every opportunity to remind me of it. I need you to bring a message to my father, okay? And stick around to bring one back if needed" Asuma shortly explained, preparing a small package for Ganso.

"And my offering?" Ganso asked, quirking a non-existent eyebrow

"All ready" Asuma added, tossing a fruit to the monkey, who cackled with glee, before waving off and vanishing in another puff of smoke.

"Now, back to the matter at hand. Shino, Shikamaru, excellent work. I've sent a message to the Hokage to send us another team for reinforcements. Chouji, you and I are taking the next shift while these two rest up a bit" Asuma handed out the orders as he waited for Chouji to walk over to him. He wondered for a second just how a twelve-year-old dressed in scale armor could look like a harmless kid. He also made a mental note to get a decent cloak for Chouji. One that would cover his armor at least a bit.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~With Yugao~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

A tired figure glanced at the falling sun, arguing internally how much time she would need to finish what she had in store for the day.

After sneaking around all day, Yugao Uzuki was tired, irritated and worst of all, very, very dirty, though the results she had to show so far were excellent. She had managed to scout out over three quarters of the island, and now possessed a good image of the numbers their enemies had.

With a flick of her wrist, the mercenary tied down on the floor beneath her died of having his throat pierced by a kunai. She wasn't cruel, and compared to what he had just tried to do, this was a gentle death, though at least the knowledge he had proved useful. The man was something of a minor officer in the 'thug army' that Gato held. No one important enough to be missed, but important enough to know a few useful tidbits of information. '_Not that they would ever find his corpse'_ she mentally noted as she the corpse over the cliff and down into the jagged underwater rocks below. She cleaned off the kunai with a piece of cloth she had cut from his clothes, before tying it up around a rock and throwing it to the sea. _'First rule of ANBU operations: You were never there, and even if you were, no one who saw you without being cleared, dies'_

It was a harsh method, but incredibly effective, and it had saved Konoha from the political backlash that some of the ANBU missions could have caused more than once.

Content with the effects of her work and information gathering, she threw one last look at the unconscious girl a few feet away before using a weak water jutsu to clear up the blood from the rocks beneath her feet, and heading off to the southwest. There was one last area for her to check before she was finished for the day and could go and get some well-deserved sleep. A cave never before sounded so inviting.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A pair of blue eyes opened at the coming nightfall as a pair of hands shook him awake.

Naruto regained his bearings quickly, reminding himself of the task at hand. With night falling, it would be infinitely easier to sneak into the fortified mansion ahead of him. Untying the length of rope that held him tethered to the tree he was lying on, he quickly sealed it up, and taking a deep breath, he started on his coming mission: to infiltrate, map out and escape undetected from the mansion.

Jumping towards the plateau, he kept to the taller trees to avoid drawing any attention, and using his chakra to cushion every landing to reduce any noise he was making. He took note of a number of torches scattered around the cleared field before the upward path. Apparently, at least a few of the mercenaries under Gato's command were military or ex-military. Normal thugs didn't have the experience or intellect to think of clearing up an area like that to hamper sneaking. Still, for him, there were sufficient openings to abuse.

The plateau itself was at the end of a minor peninsula, leaving a stretch of land between it and the rest of the island. The stretch itself had a wide, well traveled road going there, with torches lit along the entire length of it, while two camps stood, one on each side, watching over the path.

So, Naruto choose to do the wise thing, and bypass them completely by going over water. Even before he returned to civilization with Yugao, the water walking exercise was easy for him due to his reserves, but with her training, he could now effortlessly and soundlessly run along the surface of the water. And in the darkness of the coming night, he was invisible against the unusually calm sea. The edges of the cliff before him were smooth, but he could pick out a few possible paths to the top where his tree walking skills would do him good.

Slowly, but surely, he made his way upwards, content that his victim wasn't smart enough to provide himself with a proper fort to store his ill-begotten riches in. All the better, as Naruto had no intention of letting him keep them. Not when he could put them to his own use.

Finally reaching for the worked stone of the wall, he was pleasantly surprised to notice that there weren't any added countermeasures added to it. It would have been unpleasant at best.

He immediately stilled himself as he heard the sound of steps on the wall above him. Mentally cursing himself for not noticing it during the day, he flattened himself against the wall, hoping to stay undetected

"Hey, did you hear about that new shipment of weapons?" came the voice of the first thug

"Yeah, I heard Boss got them from some guy in Snow country. With the civil war raging on, it's no wonder he could get them so cheap" the other one responded

"I know, better for us anyway. But what are those things?" the first one continued, unknowingly holding Naruto's complete attention

"I hear the large crate has a suit of chakra armor, and the others are supposed to be generators and some other strange weapons. Weird machinery, seems to run on that slick black stuff boss wanted to set up a facility for to the east. Let's go, our shift is nearly over, and I need a beer" he finished off, the two of them walking away, and talking loud enough for Naruto to track them by sound. Once he was sure they were far enough, he vaulted over the crenelations on the wall and took a look at the area around him.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **Well, I hope you enjoyed this one. Bit hectic, but the story has more than a few threads I have to weave at the same time.

Ah yes, one important fact to add. While it may be a bit off from where the question pops up, it will clear it up for everyone, so...

More than a few of you asked yourself 'Why did the creator of puppetry, obviously a Sand nin, leave his legacy in another village, especially one with which they were at war?'

Well, I can't answer everything without revealing a few details I have for the story later on, however, did I ever mention he was a Sand nin? You also consider him a ninja first and everything else later. However, just by the effort placed in building a workshop like that, it's obvious that the man is more than just a ninja... he's an artist, as two Akatsuki members would put it, and artists, especially crazy old ones, don't think the same way other people do.

Also, since this is happening earlier than in cannon, Kaiza is still alive, and Inari isn't whining on about fate and other nonsense since his step-dad isn't a corpse

And yes, I gave Asuma a Monkey summoning contract. So sue me :P

BTW, do monkeys have eyebrows? I can't seem to figure out...

Well, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, I won't be dropping any more spoilers. Please, do review


	10. Wave : A Spider and his Web

**Author's Rambling:** Hello everyone, my muse has once more moved me to this story, little surprise there. I have chosen to take this chapter and run a number of jokes on Naruto and his paranoid tendency to expect dangerous/bad/hidden stuff where there might be none. A normal shinobi might have developed that level of paranoia, however, keep in mind that Naruto effectively learned from an old shinobi, so he might have kinda skipped a few phases. Well, I won't bore you with drivel. Enjoy the chapter.

* * *

_Chapter 10 : Wave : A Spider and his Web_

Beyond the wall that protected the estate, Naruto spied a large garden. There was nothing exotic, as few plants foreign to the soil could survive Water country's harsh climate, but a few fruit trees were surprising nonetheless.

The large courtyard that surrounded the mansion proper had several smaller buildings on the sides, carefully aligned with the walls. Naruto took mental note of the stables that could be used as an alternative entrance once they decided to attack.

The patrols were numerous, but insufficient to cover the entire area. Once more, Naruto found a sign of the man's incompetence where security was at stake. He wondered if it was his arrogance that stopped him from asking for advice from an expert on the mater, or his stupidity. Immediately accepting the first as the viable option since the man was a shark in a suit as far as money was concerned, he plotted his next moves carefully.

The manse was fortified only at the bottom floor, and all upper levels showed signs of recent redecoration, with several open balconies, and if his eyes weren't failing him, likely a pool on the top, if the small wisps of steam he could see from here were any indication.

Apart from what could be discerned on a glance, he needed at least an hour of careful observation to make any further plans, so, he kept moving until he could find a good spot. There were only a few bushes in the entire yard, and none of them were large enough to hide him, the trees were too sparse to do the same, and that finally left him with just one option, apart from dodging patrols: to climb inside.

He had to wait for a while before an opportune moment showed up before he could climb to the nearest balcony, but it proved far less a challenge than he had expected it. Even the door was open. It was getting way too easy. Could someone had actually expected him to come? Did Gato know that he was coming? Naaaah. If anything, the vertically challenged bastard probably thought he was safe with all the guards he had.

Naruto fully realized the risk he had taken as he sneaked into the room. While the scrolls of Monzaemon Chikamatsu had him prepared for all manner of traps and seals, it was Yugao's aid that prepared him for more... modern problems, such as cameras and alarms.

The room had neither, after all, what kind of person (pervert) kept a camera in their bedroom? Though if the girl currently sleeping there with a mist hitai-ate was any indication, an apparently hapless nin. Naruto had learned one thing early on, and that was that on the battlefield ranks meant jack shit. A genin's survival rate was low, but that didn't mean that one or a team couldn't take down a jounin, especially if they caught him off-guard. Yugao pressed him to learn a number of useful facts about the human body which could be used in infiltration and stealth missions, for instance, how to tell if a person is sleeping by their breathing and movements. Against a veteran ANBU operative, hunter-nin or any S-class nin those skills were next to useless, since most of them had near absolute control over their bodies, but against any wet-behind-the-ears chunin or worse still, genin, they were very efficient.

For a moment, Naruto considered kidnapping and/or killing her, but decided against it, knowing it would likely raise a big fuss, and he didn't have the time to prepare a clone to impersonate her, nor the skill in interrogation to make her 'sing' fast enough for it to work.

For the time being, he was content to simply let her sleep, certain that she indeed was asleep if the medicine on her bedside was any indication. A devilish smirk came to his face once he realized that the sleeping drug was placed in small capsules which were only _half-_full. Well, this was one sabotage he could get away with, and no one would be the wiser. If this woman was foolish enough to take sleeping medicine while she likely worked as a bodyguard, it was her problem, not his.

Finishing his task after a few nervous minutes, he closed the small bottle of pills and silently crept out of the room, aware that the woman hadn't even moved. He made a mental note of her general appearance for later reference '_Black hair, generally short, cute face. Not much, but still just enough. Wonder who she works for though_' he quietly mused as he noiselessly closed the door behind him.

Unlike the small room he just left, before him was now a massive chamber as the first floor lacked most of the floor itself, having only a walkway that connected it to rooms and the floors above and below it along with a string of rooms on it's rim. The floor beneath was easily visible through the large opening in the middle, as well as a large chandelier between four massive support pillars that kept the upper floors standing. Naruto once more made note of a potential weakness/target as he moved upwards, hoping that Gato made one more mistake and kept his treasury close to his bedroom. After all, an arrogant businessman would keep his room high above the others.'_Likely his office too,might want to check there as well before I leave. It would be too much of a risk to use any clone technique here, because if there was one ninja here asleep, it most likely means that the other two, or more are up and about. They would likely sense it instantly, so that's a big no._'

Sighing once more, Naruto Uzumaki reached the stairs, both glad and disappointed at the lack of impediments in his way. Only then did he remember that he didn't have a clue where he was going. He was going to have to search two floors of god-knew-what to find an office and map it _all_ out.

Now, Naruto wasn't lazy by any means, however a time of hanging out with a certain individual left it's consequences. If any of the servants or guards had been there, they would have heard the short whisper as the shadow crept along the ill-lit corridors of the mansion.

"Tch, troublesome"

At least, the challenge rose as he moved upward. The second floor above the ground was at least by a half smaller, and actively patrolled. The square shaped corridor that surrounded a large central room to which he couldn't spot an entrance, and doubted was the vault, had two groups constantly doing rounds... however it still had opening that could be used by slipping in and out of one of the dozen of doors that were neatly arranged along the wall.

And so began a rather tiresome dance, as Naruto waded in and out of the rooms, all the while playing hide-and-seek with the two patrolling groups. Oh, there had been one or two rooms where he had almost been caught, but that was _nothing _compared to what he had learned in only one short hour. Indeed, this floor was far more important than the last one he was on.

The entire floor consisted of nothing but offices, each piled up with tons of paperwork. A few looks at all those papers made him realize one thing, this place, this mansion was now the seat of Gato Shipping, and with that, of all the illegal activities the 'evil midget' kept doing for years now. The sheer amount of information was mind-boggling. If anything, it somewhat rescinded his opinions of Gato, the man may have been a fool with his own security, but the sheer influx of information to this place, going from shipping routes of other companies, to the army and positions, not to mention food suppliers of both sides on the civil war and a plethora of information on other factions, including the untouchable pirates indicated one of several possible things. Either Gato was a spymaster himself, or he had one such entity under his employ. The other option was that he had gathered this intel from captured people, which was also quite possible. To Naruto's great disappointment, there was hardly enough time to copy any of it, just give it a cursory look, though he once more took note of this floor as critical to his plans. '_Critical? Bullshit, this place is a gold mine of information and I sure as hell ain't leaving any of it behind_' he argued internally as he moved ever forward to the last floor of the mansion. The guards never noticed a thing.

_~~~~~~~~~~Eastern part of Wave country, with Haku and Yugao~~~~~~~~~~_

The two girls remained remarkably quiet as they went over their meager meal, warming up by the small fire. Shinobi never ate much food during missions, as it tended to produce several unpleasant... side effects, ones that could easily get one killed in the field. Instead, they relied on food pills that supplied the body with everything it needed to properly operate.

"When do you think he'll return?" Haku curiously asked, breaking the silence. Yugao merely blinked shortly, returning to her ration bar soon after.

"No clue. It's Mezuro we're talking about, he's about as unpredictable as they get. Though he will be on time. He always is" she casually responded, chewing on her bar. Haku nodded softly, before trying another approach. She was feeling talkative tonight, and she was curious about her two comrades

"Not to intrude too much, but could you tell me how did the two of you meet? Neither of you seem to be from any village, and yet you obviously have shinobi training" she tried, earning herself a raised eyebrow from the purple-haired kunoichi.

"It's... a long story" Yugao trailed off"If things go well with this, we might just tell you, that is, if you tell us about yourself as well" she retorted with a small smirk at the other girl, who merely nodded.

"Deal. Now, what did you find out?" Haku continued, unabated. So what if she was feeling very talkative.

"Well, the good news is, the three ninja here won't be much of a problem most likely, since two of them got killed a day ago, and the last one seems to be stuck inside the mansion to the south." Yugao started, slowly listing off the info she gathered "However, we might have a serious problem here..."

Her words were interrupted by the timely arrival of a third figure. The fact that said figure intentionally kept their steps loud and announced itself was identification enough

"Tenre, Haku. I'm back" Naruto sounded off in a jovial tone, rubbing his hands like a mad scientist about to take over the world. A motion that made both girls shiver in either fear or excitement. Neither was sure which one was it.

"So? Let's hear it" Yugao flatly retorted, now growing curious as to what made her partner so, so... giddy like a little child?

"What didn't I find?" Naruto stated with a smirk as he sat down, crossing his legs as he did so. "Right now, Gato Himura plots how to destroy the last few pockets of resistance within Wave country. For that purpose he has procured a number of very useful objects, including a suit of Chakra armor of Snow country make. However, that's not where the wonders cease. The mercenaries you interrogated back at Teardrop island were quite correct, as the man had withdrawn all of his finances here. If I didn't know better, I'd think he intends to create his own country." Naruto reported his findings, taking a short break for the information to settle in"Also, there is one more curious detail. Did you know that Gato has a son?" he added with a smirk at the slightly surprised faces of the two kunoichi.

"And that helps us exactly how?" Haku asked

"If his journal is correct, he intends to kill his own son tomorrow because he is, as he himself put it, 'too capable for his own good'. I think the old bastard is worried that his son would surpass him or something. Now, that brings us to why that is important. In the ten minutes I spent flipping through Gato's journals and ledgers I managed to figure out that until recently his son was the one he had entrusted all of his secrets. Now, what if we could say, persuade him to join us?" Naruto drawled off, letting the two girls draw their own conclusions. The idea had merit, for if the son had a good grasp of the older man's financial empire, he would, in theory at least, be able to take over the reigns, or at least liquidate it entirely. While the raw amount of money Gato had stored in his mansion was impressive, Naruto quickly realized that with all the other, _minor_ details the man had shuffled his fingers in, he could potentially gather twice, or trice the amount. And all it would take is a little persuasion... or a few hours with a rusty kunai, though he obviously preferred the first option.

Also, there was the matter of the equipment from Snow. Now, even in the days of Monzaemon Chikamatsu, Snow country was technologically superior to most others, but from what he had overheard during the past year, it was only during the last twenty years that it had become truly developed, forging machines and tools of complexity and ability never before seen. Rumors spread about suits of armor that blocked anything from jutsu to knives, of ships flying in the air, of metal monstrosities that made their way across the snow covered landscape while belching out black smoke, and many others. He was unwilling to take such ideas at face value, however he had an open mind. Knowledge meant power, and applicable knowledge more still. If everything went well, his original plans would need great adjustment, and right now, the first forms of a new plan were taking shape.

"Now, before we get down to planning for tomorrow, what did you two find out?" he calmly continued, schooling his face into a look of seriousness. And failing miserably as the many ideas simply kept him too excited at this point.

"I scouted the entire island. There seem to be around fifteen camps of around ten mercenaries each, all placed at important locations throughout the country" Yugao stated, quickly pulling out a small map with fifteen places marked off "I believe if a number of camps close to here," she pointed at Gato's mansion "and the command ones here," and then one of the areas where they were thinner "were taken out, we could effectively disable them, and easily hunt them down one by one thanks to a complete breakdown in the chain of command. Also, the mansion itself wouldn't be able to call back any reinforcements. I have also taken out a total of five men, all interrogated and disposed off, leaving no traces behind. The equipment, as you requested was gathered and sealed up"

"Excellent Tenre" Naruto spoke with a warm smile that made her feel happy and warm inside. It wasn't easy to put into words, but during the past few months, it felt more like he was the leader, and her senior than the other way around. And what really made her wonder was the fact that she didn't mind in the least, and obeyed without question. She even felt elated whenever he praised her, just like when she was first starting in the ANBU with her former teacher and captain.

"Haku?" he called, turning away, and Yugao could feel the warmth fading away.

"Right. I might have some bad news. There's a group of Konoha ninja, a jounin and three genin. It would seem that a bridge builder by the name of Tazuna is constructing a bridge in an attempt to break Gato's hold on the region, and he hired a group of Konoha nin to protect both him and the bridge. According to rumors, the group has already killed two out of the three ninja Gato has in his employ currently. The state of the sole village on the island is pitiful at best, they're short on food, medicine, even drinking water, as Gato keeps guards at all of the wells, not to mention that all of the boats have been sunken during the past month or so. A number of people have died of starvation or disease already. " she reported calmly, though a bit disturbed and disgusted by what she had seen"the people here are almost broken completely. I..." she started, then decided to trail off, uncertain whether the two would accept her request.

"Yes Haku?" Naruto pressed on, somewhat aware of what she wanted. It wasn't like he felt any different. Haku remained silent for a moment, gathering her thoughts.

"Would you help them?" she asked finally. Naruto merely smiled, though that was no longer the innocent smile of a child, rather, it was the smile of a predator who had caught scent of his prey.

"I have every intention of doing so. We are shinobi, but we aren't heartless monsters." he retorted, face settling into a calmer state "Now, let's see what we can do. And get some rest after that"

The two nodded and they began planing and plotting for the day tomorrow

_~~~~~~~~~~~~With Team Asuma~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

Morning had come sooner than the two sleeping members of Team Asuma would have wanted. Shikamaru and Chouji got to sleep through the last part of the night while Asuma and Shino kept watch over the house and the surroundings.

The first rays of light were slowly trickling in, hitting Shikamaru straight in the eyes. Once more, the lazy boy could swear that this day was going to be very troublesome in more ways than one, and so far, such feelings had served him well. The first time, it had been on the day that all that crap befell Naruto, the second was when his team's parents asked Sarutobi to let the kids graduate early, and one was barely a week ago when the grim news concerning the cat of the Daimyo's wife, Tora, had arrived.

Apparently the little furball-from-hell, as it was affectionately called by the shinobi population of Konoha, had a litter of five, yes _five_, kittens, and each and every one of them was a spitting image of their father. It was that day that he silently thanked the heavens he had graduated early. He would he sooner followed the steps of Sakumo Hatake and committed sepuku than hunted down the entire litter, and he had the feeling that roughly half the village shared similar sentiments. So, if he felt that the day was going to be troublesome, it likely would.

Getting up with a quiet groan, the first thing he did was check his tools. In the world of the shinobi, tools were often underestimated greatly by the average ninja. After all, why should they carry a ton of equipment, when a few jutsu could get the job done, right? Wrong. And all it took him to take the lesson to heart was getting beaten by Naruto, his mother and his father, the latter two using nothing ninja wire and senbon needles while not moving from a single spot. It was a humbling experience, but enlightening as well, and since then, the two spools of ninja wire never left his belt, nor did a number of smoke and flash pellets placed in two small pouches on the opposite side.

Chouji was already up, and eating. He couldn't help but smile a little at the one absolutely certain thing in life: If it was morning, Chouji was having breakfast. Or a snack. Or two.... he really didn't want to spend any more time thinking about it.

"Oh, hey Shika... munch...give me a second to finish of the bag of chips before we get out" the boy spoke, making only one short break as he swallowed some of the food in his mouth

"Sure, sure..." Shikamaru trailed off, taking the time to look out the window. While the sky was clear, the mist was thicker than yesterday, blocking off sight after couple of dozen meters or so. A bit off, he could see Shino and Asuma, with Asuma trying to get a word out of Shino. He chuckled lightly at the sight

"Asuma-sensei still trying to get Shino to speak?" Chouji asked as he put on the last part of his armor and picked up the naginata he carried with him.

"Yep. His optimism is amazing. I would have given up ages ago if I didn't know him before" the raven haired youth answered, bringing a content laugh from the armored one.

"Too troublesome, eh Shika? "

"Exactly. Though something's gonna happen today. Not sure what though. The weather's fine, reinforcements are on the way" he added the second part quietly, more to himself, and stopped before he could say the words 'what could possibly go wrong?'. No, he was not going to jinx things again. Getting an angry Anko Mitarashi on his case because he tripped and spilled her dango once was more than enough for him, thank you very much.

The two of them quickly and quietly left via the window. Tazuna's family was still likely asleep, considering it was dawn when they got up

"Oi! Asuma-sensei, we're up" Shikamaru called, though he kept his voice down.

"Uhm? Oh, good. Let's get some training done before me an Shino catch some sleep." Asuma retorted, lightly pushing a half asleep Shino awake. The short 'No, I wasn't asleep' look he gave him made him chuckle shortly as the trio of young ninja sat themselves down in a semi-circle in front of him.

"Let's get started shall we? Today, I'm going to teach you a refinement of the normal shunshin and substitution techniques" he spoke, eying his monkey summon as his little white-haired friend kept watch. He was growing increasingly proud of his team. Hell, the three were any teacher's wet dream, a group already completely cohesive, smart, efficient and talented. And what one learned, the others did within twenty four hours or less, meaning even less work for him. If things continued going this well, he might finally have the time to take Kurenai out for a dinner date, an activity he had been delaying for a month now. He only hoped that someone wouldn't beat him to the deed.

_(14:00, Mercenary camp somewhere in the middle of Wave country)_

"Get up you lazy slobs!" yelled the acting commander of a group of very important thugs. Why were these people important you might ask? Simple, they held the key to keeping five other camps in touch with the mansion down south. A bunch of carrier birds, all kept inside their cages and ready to deliver messages that would take five minutes at most to reach any location on the island.

The commander looked at the fools that worked under him with growing irritation. They were slow, sloppy, and, he suspected, retarded. Just why did he take this job again? Ah yes, the promised paycheck. At least something to look forward to. Maybe one of those good-looking girls from that village too... sadly enough, his line of thought was rudely interrupted by a senbon that landed in the back of his neck, leaving him completely paralyzed as the nerve destroying venom began acting. Because the man was sitting, none of his nine subordinates noticed a thing. Not even when nine more needles landed into them and disabled them, the act quickly followed by a single figure dressed entirely in black, with a wide rimmed straw hat covering it's head. Long, wide sleeves concealed the arms, and the billowy form of the strange clothes made it impossible to determine the sex of the person, but the commander thought for a moment that this reminded him of the stories of the ninja of old, legends of the time before they started using chakra.

Just as the entire group fell to the ground, dead, he realized that the person turned to him, and suddenly produced a long, slightly curved sword from somewhere. Unable to move, he said a silent prayer right before the blade swung, and separated his head from his shoulders.

With perfect calmness, the figure cleaned the blade on his clothes before sheathing it, and disappearing into the mist, as if it was never there.

Beneath her mask Yugao's face was twisted into an emotionless mask. While Naruto wasn't as talented as some others she knew in the field of strategy, the plan he had concocted with their help would work. She would see to it, even if she had to kill every goddamn mercenary thug here herself. Giving a slight hand signal to a distant figure dressed just like her, she moved to the next target. Within an hour, the entire organization of Gato's mercenaries would crumble, leaving him very much vulnerable.

Elsewhere, Naruto, with the help of the Guardian puppet was overseeing the road that led to the mansion. The two camps that he had spied last night were no more than piles of corpses now as he had brutally and efficiently used a team of clones on one, and his puppet on the other. Just like Yugao and Haku, he was dressed in the same clothes he had originally taken as spares for his puppet, to conceal it's true nature. There would be time to strip the dead of their equipment later, as for now, time was of the essence. In ten minutes sharp, Yugao and Haku would arrive, and the siege of the mansion would begin.

Once more, he went over his mental checklist, reminding himself of all the preparations taken for the attack. The weakened wall on the outer side of the stables was one, as he had applied an acid which easily ate away stone. The 'improved' sleeping pills were another, as was the concoction of poisonous substances he had added to the water supply. Nothing strong, but the mild disorientation, laxative effects and a few other choice effects would help them out while still not showing as anything other than perhaps a disease of some sort. After all, it wasn't all that unusual for diseases to break out here, even if it was nearing winter.

Ten minutes had passed quickly, and soon enough, two figures shunshined close to him.

"All camps are down, except the three closest to the village. Even if the Konoha ninja try to do something, they will first meet those thugs. The jounin among them should be enough to handle thirty under-trained mercs" Yugao briskly reported, while Haku stood silently next to him.

"Alright then. Let the siege begin" Naruto stated in a cold voice as his hands rapidly moved through the handseals of the Mist Clone jutsu, ten groups of copies of his team taking shape from the moisture surrounding them. Naruto quickly threw five packages among the group, the stacks of exploding tags would serve as a fine addition to their firepower.

Like one, the thirty clones moved onward, gliding along the surface of the earth as they moved to attack the mansion directly. Naruto, Yugao and Haku shunshined away, breaking up into three groups and beginning their own, covert assault.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Gato smiled from his bed. Life was good in oh so many ways. Profit was flowing in, the slave and weapons trade functioned perfectly, that bastard brat was going to die today along with the rest of this shithole country, and a new one will rise in it's place, one under his rule. Not even the fact that he had to visit the restroom three times since he woke up could blow away the smile glued on his face.

However, the massive explosion coming from the outside, combined with the screams of what were decidedly _his_ _men_ did that in an instant.

Jumping out of the bed, he rushed for the window, and saw a sight that chilled him to the bones. The fortified gate of his complex was now in pieces, and a number of corpses decorated the gardens while a band of black clothed _ninja_ were killing anything that moved. Perhaps this wasn't going to be such a good day.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The trio ignored the general mayhem around them as Yugao turned the weakened wall into mud, allowing the three of them to quietly enter the estate from the stables, while the clones kept distracting everyone. As soon as they were in, they broke up, each going after one of the objectives. Naruto had taken up the ransacking of the second floor, and sealing of all the contents there, after killing off Gato Himura of course, while Yugao was to locate and extract his son, and Haku was to take all usable technology from Snow she could find.

He had already broken off from the two, choosing to run silently along the wall to the top floor where he knew Gato resided. By now the 'evil midget' likely noticed that he was under siege, and probably tried to hide somewhere... shame he knew the last two floors by heart.

Leaping onto the balcony, he silently threw two kunai through the glass door, letting them break the glass as he immediately followed. Gato was nowhere in sight. Still, the clothes standing in front of one of the closets there was indication enough. Grabbing another four kunai in each hand, he immediately threw them into the thin wooden door of the closet, and was immediately rewarded with a scream as the now corpse of the little businessman rolled out, completely dead. There wasn't time to mess around, as he knew that the Konoha ninja would likely hear the explosions, considering that the place was a little more than five kilometers away, and would soon come to investigate. And he really didn't want to have to fight them or answer their questions. It wasn't that he hated or loved Konoha. He cared for some people amongst it's ranks, but further than that, he simply didn't care. What he did care though, was that interaction with those from Konoha would draw attention to himself and Yugao, and he couldn't risk that yet.

Moving his hands into a familiar handseal, a dozen clones immediately took form and after taking at least five sealing scrolls, began ransacking the last two floors of the mansion, vault included.

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Three floors below him, Yugao was taking stock of a rather unusual scene. The son of Gato Himura, named Gato Tensai, was... in no way alike to his father, that much was sure. Where Himura was short, somewhat obese, the youth before her was of average height and almost skeletally thin. Next to him, currently doing her best to cut his bonds was a young kunoichi bearing a mist hitai-ate tied to her left biceps. To her disappointment, the girl failed to notice her presence.

In mild irritation, she threw a single senbon needle above her head, informing them of her arrival

"Get up, both of you" she ordered shortly, lacing her words with enough killing intent to make sure they would listen "My leader wishes to speak with you, Gato Tensai." she added, kicking a corpse away as she turned and left, but only after making sure they were following her.

Hinamori Numenai wasn't anyone of importance really. A no-name from a civilian family who had just graduated before the civil war had begun. She had few notable skills, among them her proficiency with medicine and general healing, but aside from that, she was another nobody. That is, until a few months ago, when Gato Tensai hired her to be his mentor in self defense and basic shinobi skills. He had a little aptitude in the area, going as far as having very basic control and combat skills after all the training she put him through... just enough for defending himself against non-shinobi opponents. Even a fully trained genin would be enough to take him down though. Still, over the time they spent together, she came to have feelings for the young man.

Was it love? Lust? Or did she simply care for him as a good friend should? She really didn't know, and she really didn't care. But considering that these black clad ninjas effectively toppled Gato in less than an hour, she really didn't want to fight them, and by extension, she didn't want Tensai to fight them. Gently, she helped her friend to his feet. He was bruised, but not harmed in any major way, as _father dearest_ didn't want his son damaged for the execution.

"Can you walk?"

"I'll be okay, Hinamori. Let's see what these people want with us. Maybe we can get out of this alive, somehow" he responded, the two of them slowly following Yugao upwards. Neither of them noted the faint smirk on Yugao's lips. Things were going according to plan.

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Haku cursed for the fifth time in the last twenty minutes. How many damn empty rooms did this underground storehouse have? A hundred? Even after finally tracking down the room in which the set of three crates were located, it still took her a while to ensure it was what they were looking for in the first place, a suit of weird-looking armor and a pair of machines. Yep, the equipment from Snow. Mezuro was going to have a field day once she brought this to him... and likely lock himself up in his workshop for at least a week before coming out with a doomsday machine of some sort. In some aspects, the kid was utterly predictable... just as she finished sealing the two crates into scrolls her eyes came across a long case, made of quality wood, and bound with decorative paper, not to mention several waxen seals. Well, she never was one to leave something that piqued her interest behind...

It would be another ten minutes before she had finished placing a number of remote charges throughout the corridors and fled the area, retreating to the surface, and rejoining Mezuro and Tenre in the main chamber. Like them, she was still clad in the black robes with a straw hat covering most of her head, and a mask covering her face. Mezuro, Tenre and the two prisoners were seated around a table, and the sounds of battle had quieted down already. It was over, and they had won. Now, it was time for negotiations.

* * *

**Author's notes: **And cut. There, the end of another chapter. I intentionally cut things off here (and not to torment you with a cliffhanger, believe it or not), because it was the only reasonable place I could without making this a 12-13k chapter that you would have to wait for another few days at least. And those long chapters, while nice, can be difficult to read.**  
**

I felt the need to mess with the characters this chapter. Don't know why, though it was fun to write. Especially the Tora part. Now imagine the unfortunate genin trying to chase down 5 such cats. Relish the mental image. Can't really think why none of the more humor oriented writers never came up with that...

Also, I have decided to give Gato a son, and a bit of actual depth, as well as actually giving the irritating bastard a full name. While the Naruto takes Gato's riches plot twist is overused, the one that I have in mind isn't... hopefully.

And to those that think the whole killing of the mercs was too easy... it's supposed to be. Right now Naruto and Yugao are cruising along the lower echelons of society, and while Gato is a tempting target, and someone should have attacked him... they were simply fortunate enough to be there at the right time to do it first. It is equally stupid to expect one of the youngest ANBU prodigies in Konoha history (to which Yugao amounts to), and Naruto, already a capable kid, after six months of being trained to the ground by said prodigy, as well as a young bloodline user, trained by one of the Seven Swordsmen to be pushovers, isn't it?

Also, I have not yet revealed the true villain in this storyline, but don't expect things to go... the usual way. If anything, that much should have been obvious by now.

I have also posted two challenges on my profile. Those were ideas that came up in my head recently but I won't have the time to write them for now. Maybe at some point, but not now. If you like them, message me so I can put your name in a list under the challenge.


	11. Wave : Birth of a Mirage

**Author's Ramblings:** Well, it would seem my muse is back, at least for the time being. This chapter is slightly rushed because I won't have access to internet till Tuesday, due to my impending visit to the countryside where a part of my family lives for Easter. So, I wanted to leave you with something to read in the mean time (that, and I'd get very annoyed with a half finished chapter being left like that while I have the inspiration to write :P). I will likely write stuff in my notebook while there, so I shouldn't lose too much time.

I was slightly disappointed to the very limited reaction to Tora having a litter of kittens. Oh well, looks like I need some more work on my humor :P

Conversely, this chapter has only a small bit to do with Wave country, but it is the aftermath of the events there...

Well, without any further ado, here's the last chapter of the Wave arc. Where devious plot twists occur, blond puppeteers have fun on the account of aged perverts, and a not-so-small organization appears.(you know how much I love messing around)

Enjoy!

* * *

_Chapter 11: Wave : Birth of a Mirage_

Indeed, it was time for negotiations. Tensai and Hinamori nervously stared at the three identically dressed figures that stood before them. The only bit that was visible were the eyes, and all three sets were cold and calculating.

Now, Gato Tensai, while not overly capable in combat, was a very shrewd merchant. When he was ten, his father had already begun teaching him the ropes of the business in hope that he would be of some use. Himura was never a kind, caring man, and he saw the world through money. If something wasn't getting him profit, it was worthless. And so, in an attempt to improve his own standing, he taught his son the tricks of the trade, how to deal with people, how to haggle, how to negotiate, how to handle sums of money both small and great... everything one needed to be a merchant. Now, at twenty years of age, he had a decent amount of experience behind him, and even something of a respectable reputation throughout the capitol city. He had been threatened before, and he was already prepared to meet the Shinigami mere hours ago. He would not be cowed.

"What is it you want?" Tensai asked in a serious, but calm voice. He didn't really care that much that his _father_ was likely a corpse now. The bastard cared little for him other than as a means of profit. The trio remained silent for a few moments, the two figures on the sides looking at the one in the center.

A quiet sigh could be heard coming from the center figure as it's hands moved to remove the straw hat, and after that, the porcelain white mask that covered the face, revealing it to be Naruto. The green eyes were still cold, but the calculative gleam was gone, and instead, all he could see was determination. He would have no issues with killing both him and Hinamori, and he doubted his two subordinates would be any different.

"I will be short and blunt, since right now I have neither the time to waste nor the patience to waste it." Naruto began coldly "Right now, we are in possession of any and all applicable resources within this building. We have taken out the entirety of Gato Himura's mercenary force and himself as well, and are ready to blow this place sky high. The only thing that decides whether the two of you stay here and get a front row seat to the blast is decision you will now make." Naruto finished, making a dramatic pause to let the idea sink in. Yugao and Haku helped him write the damn speech, and he knew he'd be in big trouble with the two of them if he didn't use it.

"It is obvious that we can't take advantage of all the financial resources here, and our organization would benefit from having access to them. Our offer is simple, you will start working for us by putting these resources to use as instructed, and in turn we not only spare your life, and that of your lover," queue a pair of slight blushes "but we also offer a place in the organization, as well as access to a part of said finances. What is your decision? You have a minute to decide, starting now." he finished, lacing his fingers beneath his chin.

Tensai noticed that his eyes kept one more quality he had only now noticed, a mischievous glint hidden under all that ice.

"And what guarantee do I have that you would hold your word?" he countered

"You don't" Naruto shortly answered "I could give my word, but what weight does that have to you? The only guarantee I can offer is that if you cooperate, you would become too useful for me to kill. And if keeping you cooperative means keeping your girl there alive, then so be it."

"I see. I don't have a choice then, do I? I will accept" Tensai responded finally, mildly disturbed at the happy, childish smile on the trained killer's face.

"Good. You seem like the decent type, I wasn't looking forward to killing you. We'll discuss details later on. Oh," he turned to Hinamori " and my apologies for spiking your sleeping pills shinobi-san." he shortly offered with a bow "Escort them outside, and let's get the hell out of here" he finished, putting up the mask and hat once more, while Haku immediately escorted the two outside. He and Yugao remained within to set the final part, the main detonators, which would delay the explosions so that they would be simultaneous. Finally ready, Naruto lit the fuse, and the two of them hightailed it out. It would be five long minutes before the place exploded, and none of them wished to be close by.

The surviving Mist clones dispersed, Naruto's hands quickly moving to summon a shadow variant. One final move had to be made for this victory to be complete. Not to mention a little thank you.

_(9:00 AM, with team Asuma and Tazuna's family)_

There was no lack of reaction as the explosion sounded from the southern part of the island. Asuma scowled, almost biting through the cigar in his mouth. The reinforcements weren't yet there... they wouldn't be for another hour, and by then, whatever happened would be over, with them none the wiser. He had overheard the words of the locals, the building that was destroyed served as Gato's base, which meant that someone had attacked him, and very likely won. He himself knew of few buildings that could survive an explosion like that.

"Sensei?" Chouji shortly asked, though Asuma merely stood still. As much as he wanted to check it, protecting their client came first.

"We stand watch over the village Chouji. Nothing else to do for now." Asuma grunted out in an irritated tone. And that irritation would only turn to shock as a figure clad in black appeared on the roof of Tazuna's home. In an instant, Shino and Shikamaru stood beside the family with Chouji and Asuma blocking the figure off. However, it no longer moved, choosing to stay silent for a few moments before speaking in a muffled voice, something that Asuma recognized as one of those modulators used by their ANBU. Of course, nothing stopped others from using similar technology, so that knowledge was a moot point.

"Greetings people of Wave, Konoha shinobi. I come bearing gifts." the figure spoke, holding out a scroll in it's glove-covered right hand. Asuma was the first to react

"Who are you, and what do you want?" was his quick question.

"Relax shinobi-san, I am here as a representative, not to fight. The Mirage group has taken care of Gato Himura, as he had begun interfering with our own business. Neither he, nor most of his mercenaries will disturb you any further, though it is possible that we missed a few. As a token of good will, we are leaving roughly sixty percent of the finances the man had behind. We believe you will be able to make good use of them."

Not giving the shinobi a chance to react, the figure quickly landed with well practiced steps, a second hand making it's way from the sleeve to roll open the scroll on the floor, and begin unsealing the contents. To the growing shock of Team Asuma, a quickly growing pile of gold bars showed up, accompanied by several small stacks of paper.

"Now that my job is done, I bid you farewell. Oh, and send a greeting to your Shadow, shinobi-san. I would appreciate it if you would deliver this to him." he finished off, threw a second, much smaller scroll to him, leaving the others no time for questions, shortly bowed, and vanished in a plume of smoke.

"A...clone?" Shikamaru spoke. Wonders were not about to cease, however, as a certain very quiet person spoke up again

"That was Naruto" Shino stated with absolute certainty in his voice. For a second, Asuma actually checked if the two others were pulling a prank on him, before he was sure it was Shino speaking. The usually calm, emotionless face now had the slightest signs of a smile present.

After going through the initial shock of the idea, Shikamaru and Chouji could only smile. If anything, Naruto had done well for himself. The only one out of the loop, yet again, was Asuma

"Naruto, as in Naruto Uzumaki?" he asked quietly, and when he received a nod from Shino, he himself calmed down. He was an ally for now, and the scroll he had given him was going to his father. '_Things just might turn out a bit more interesting....oh, wait a second, if that was Naruto, that means he left us the..._'

"That little conniving bastard" Asuma muttered

"What's wrong Asuma-sensei?" Shikamaru asked

"He left us with the cleanup job" Asuma groaned, and Shino and Chouji joined him moments later as they understood what he had meant. Shino was still eerily quiet, though the hint of the smile never left his face. It was Naruto after all. And if things went well for him, he wouldn't be the one to complain.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Several kilometers away from shore, a relatively small boat with five people on it sailed away from the island and towards the east..To the untrained eye, they seemed like ordinary people getting from one place to another. The relatively calm weather allowed for an uneventful voyage, and the cover of mist allowed for safety, while the navigational equipment stashed inside made sure that they didn't lose their way. Hinamori took control of the ship, claiming her skills were sufficient to get them back to civilization, and after a few minutes, Naruto's team understood why. Where they had struggled with the ropes and other ship parts, Hinamori took mere seconds to take control of the entire ship and keep course, occasionally taking a look at a small compass in her hand.

They had taken of their masks and disguises, returning to the clothes they wore originally. They were after all, more comfortable than those black robes and overly large hats.

"Uhm, something just occurred to me... I never asked your names...?" Tensai attempted to start a conversation, though he was curious as to their names. So far, they had picked up his name from Himura's journals and Hinamori's from their conversations, but he knew next to nothing of them.

"Sigh... fine, why not? We're going to be working together anyway, right girls?" Naruto accepted with a mock annoyed tone, something the young merchant picked up, though the fact that he was actually jovial surprised him.

"My name is Mezuro Kaichi, by profession, mercenary ninja, with no village history" Naruto started, nodding to the two.

"Tenre Kasadi, mercenary ninja swordswoman" Yugao shortly added, not overly interested in speaking now. She was more interested in taking a short nap.

"Haku, mercenary ninja as well, I suppose" Haku added herself, even if she was still somewhat uncertain of her position in the group. To her left, Naruto nearly smacked himself in the head at the thing he forgot to do. Promising himself to bring her up to speed as soon as they had a good opportunity, he focused on the man in front of him.

"Now, let's discuss business." Naruto spoke calmly, taking a seat on one of the wooden beams that gave support to the boat.

"Right now, we have a minor fortune in our possession, correct? From what I understand, you have a decent understanding of your late father's finances."

"We... do." Tensai started, still slightly unused to the way he was being treated. More like a partner than a subordinate. Not that he minded the change "Though with the imminent collapse of Gato Shipping, the trade bars..." Tensai began, only to be interrupted by Yugao

"Trade bars?"

"The gold bars you took from the vault."he clarified" As I was saying, they are only worth their weight in gold. Now, if you had a group, with a solid reputation backing them, their value would certainly grow. Also, many of the papers you took are deeds to pieces of land, many of them with small villages or even mines and plantations on them. I am also certain that there were the ownership papers of several trading ships there as well. From where I stand, you have several options." he stated finally, now completely immersed into his subject. Naruto immediately recognized the state of mind, as did Yugao. After all, with Naruto carrying such a look on his face every so often, it was hard not to.

"Go ahead"

"Option number one." he said, putting up one finger"Liquidate the entire estate and turn gold into usable coin. Easiest, lowest risks, but the lowest profit, and leaves you without any reliable income. Option number two." two fingers were raised this time "Retain ownership of it all and wait. Not such a bad idea, but you'd be taking a big risk, and with potentially massive losses ahead should something go wrong. And finally, my favorite, option number three. You allow me relatively free reign over the resources. I invest, run the businesses and attempt to turn the sizable fortune into an even bigger one,as well as providing you with the political and economical cover. Not to mention the backing of a sterling reputation of a say, new trading company with a mercenary division?" he completed his listing, the crowd rapt at attention.

"I think I like option number three" Yugao tentatively stated.

"Likewise" Naruto and Haku simultaneously added.

"However, I want to know how you intend to pull it off first." Naruto quickly ordered, and was pleased by the slightly mischievous smile on the young man's face.

"Right now, I possess something of a reputation within some of the political circles. With the death of my.... Himura," he skipped saying father, a look as if he had chewed on something sour covering his face "I am legal heir to his estates and resources. And there are already rumors present of our... disagreements on how the family business should be ran. That leaves me with a solid base to start a new company, by simply overtaking an already existing infrastructure. Several people would have to be removed first..." he trailed off, nodding shortly at the 'leave that part to us' look that Naruto gave him

"But shortly put, I would found an interest group of sorts, using the resources already at disposal, and build up from there. Trade, especially in these war torn times, can be _very _lucrative. I would assume you wouldn't mind having additional resources at your disposal?" he asked rhetorically. What freelance ninja would?

"That sounds acceptable" Naruto retorted "Several conditions though."

"Listening.."

"No slave trading, no drug trafficking, and we," Naruto stated, pointing at himself, Haku and Yugao "retain the right to overrule any decision you make. Understood?"

"Do I have a choice? Though that does give me an idea..." Tensai answered, brow furrowed in thought.

"Yes, yes, yes, you made your plans, now could you please shut the fuck up?" Hinamori growled from behind them "I would prefer not to crash us into a reef" she added at their surprised expressions, which quickly turned slightly pale (or more than slightly in some cases). It was going to be a long trip home.

Naruto chuckled, inwardly wondering what Barok was going to say when they met her again.

"Mirage" he muttered finally.

"Mhmm?" Yugao mumbled from next to him.

"That's the name I chose after last night. That will be the name of not only our group, but of the company that Tensai will found within a few days. Hey Tensai, can you by any chance keep the company under the radar for at least a few days after it is established? You know, make it look like it was there for a while and only now opened itself to the public?"

"I could... and I think I see where you're going with this. Good idea, let's make it a month then." he stopped speaking for a moment"Mirage. I like the sound of that." the merchant added, returning to the stack of papers they had supplied him with, and frantically writing notes. Yugao took one long look at him and sighed. Great, now she had two obsessed men in the group. What was next? A mascot of some sort? Still, the name sounded... cool, at least.

_(Three days later, 21:35 Habuse)_

Naruto sighed gently at the sight of the city ahead. It was surprising, but he had come to think of this place as a home in such a short time that it was almost funny. Almost.

Is perch atop the roof of the passenger ship was shared by Yugao and Haku, while Tensai and Hinamori boarded normally. Right now, they couldn't afford to be connected to one another.... yet.

Just as the ship approached the harbor, the trio jumped from the ship, silently landing on the water. What the captain didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

To Naruto's surprise, Tensai had only asked for the amount of money he would need to start up everything. He seemed genuinely interested in this, though he wasn't completely sure about him yet. Foolish giving of trust was a dangerous thing for a shinobi, but blind distrust of everyone was equally dangerous. For the time being, he would give the man a chance to create this company. Right now, the potential benefits greatly outweighed the risks.

He shook his head from such thoughts. It was one of the reasons he had wanted someone capable to do the job instead. He preferred combat, and his work.

The trio remained relatively silent as they prowled towards their warehouse home, all of them very much looking forward to sleeping in a familiar place. And good food too. Naruto was looking forward to trying a new variety of pocky, and hoping beyond hope that someone opened a ramen stand in the mean time. Yugao and Haku would be content with a decent meal at the 'Silver Carp'. Not to mention picking up their payment from Barok.

"Let's split up" Yugao offered "I'll go get the food, Haku, you can clean up the place a bit, and Mezuro, you go get our paychecks, okay?"

"Why not? I could go with a walk now" Naruto responded, while Haku nodded and continued towards the warehouse.

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Barok's Tattoo Parlor hadn't changed a bit in the few days Naruto was gone. It was still a seedy place, ran by a scantly clad tattoo artist/mercenary handler. The few windows were still nearly opaque, and Naruto could spot the once more sleeping figure of Reiko sitting in a chair in the front of the place. As he approached, Reiko barely opened an eye

"Mezuro-san? You're here to see Barok-sama, right?" he asked.

"Mhm" Naruto confirmed with a nod.

"She's in the back. Go right in." Reiko added, closing his eye again

"Thanks" he muttered, going on in. Naruto was tired, not physically, but mentally. The whole mess that started with that small village, and later Wave country left him exhausted. And he had a feeling Barok would once more go around messing with him.

So, he was very surprised to find an incredibly calm and concentrated woman, dressed in rather conservative clothes going over a ton of papers.

"Hum?" she turned, and only then was Naruto sure that it was indeed Barok "Oh, Mezuro-kun. You're late" she stated with mild annoyance.

"Sorry, we were held up a bit."Naruto apologized, only slightly sorry.

"A bit? You're nearly a week late, so no bonus for you." she responded "However, I do have something to discuss with you while you're here"

"What is it?"

"Well, I might have a useful piece of information, or two. Depends on how cooperative you are."

"And what would my cooperation require?" Naruto asked calmly.

"The answers to a couple of questions. They stay between us, this is merely for my personal curiosity. I was informed that a certain shipping magnate was killed some three or four days ago, while the mansion he resided in was blown to pieces. You wouldn't happen to know anything?" she asked innocently.

"I might know the perpetrator" he retorted with a smile. She understood.

"Clever kid. I do hope you took his cash... it would be a shame for it to go to waste. Now for the other one. Would you by any chance know a certain Jiraya?"

"Not personally, but I know of him... why do you ask?" Naruto asked, now slightly concerned

"He paid me a visit yesterday, and asked me to set up a meeting with you and your group. He never gave any reasons, apart from the tidbit that you might know someone he is looking for. He is someone it is usually wise to cooperate with, but I didn't tell him more than I had to. After all, we do kinda work together, don't we?"

"True. But he's right. I might know someone." Naruto responded, finally dropping his guard.

"Would that person by any chance be a certain Naruto Uzumaki, jinchuriki of the Nine Tailed Fox?" Barok asked in a calm voice.

"And how would you know that tidbit of information?"

"Oh, I hear things. But don't worry Mezuro-kun. Your secret is safe with me. Jiraya is staying at an inn nearby for a few more days. He told me to tell you to visit him when you could." she explained, passing him a small piece of paper with an address.

"Now, for your information. Do you know who the former leader of Kirigakure was?" she asked, grinning conspiratorially.

"Ehm, wasn't it a man named Yagura? I don't really know much about him, apart from the fact that he was Mizukage." Naruto tried, though was disappointed in his own lack of knowledge

"True, but that's not why he should be interesting, to you at least." she continued, still grinning "Did you know that Yagura was not just a jinchuriki, but one of the few throughout the ages that had complete mastery over his powers?"

Now _that,_ he didn't know.

"What are you aiming at Barok-san?" Naruto asked, clearly intrigued.

"Rumor has it that the man had left behind a tome, one containing a number secrets he had gleamed from the mind of his bijuu, as well as what allowed him to use said power. _Rumor_ also has it, that he hid that tome in a shrine somewhere in Water country before he vanished, and that the location is in his journal in Kirigakure. " she explained "I just thought that you might be interested, for reasons obvious."

"I... see. That is indeed _interesting_." Naruto retorted, a content smile making it's way to his face. He now had yet another objective.

"Though until the war is over, it's a moot point." Barok added "Well, nice to see you again, tell those girls of yours I said hi. Oh, and I nearly forgot your pay for the mission. Do come by in a few days. I might have something interesting for you"

Waving quietly he walked out, only then taking a moment to look at the cash he received. The bonus was there, to his surprise. And Barok, as the last time, still remained beyond his ability to understand and predict. And he couldn't say that she didn't intrigue him. Just why did she help them?

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"Reiko, are my clothes ready?" Barok turned to her friend after Naruto had left. A curious little brat he was. And he did make life interesting. Who would have thought that he'd have the guts, not to mention the skill to simply take out Gato? Not to mention do it just to claim his resources as his own... and then there was the fact that he was the jinchuriki of the Kyuubi. And that he had drawn the interest of one of the Sannin.

He just might prove to be what she was looking for.

"Yes Barok-sama, all is prepared." Reiko came out, carrying a carefully made package "Your tailor send a courier with this"

"Good. Now, let's see what my dear sister has in mind. I'd hate to be seen as impolite to keep someone of her standing waiting." she muttered, taking off the long coat she was wearing. There wasn't much time to spare, unfortunately, and this was one of those meetings she wasn't overly looking forward to.

After all, when your sister was currently fighting off political opponents left and right in an attempt to become Daimyo, how pleasant could a meeting be?

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Naruto could safely say that he wasn't looking forward to the talk they were about to have. And for once, he had slowed down his usual flurry of eating, to a seemingly civilized rate. Ever since Yugao told him what she said to Haku while they were waiting for him to return, he knew it would soon be time to tell Haku a few key details.

For one, he didn't like the idea of said knowledge spreading. Two, while he had come to trust Haku, as a potential partner at least, he knew that not telling her would prove a risk in the long run. Trust was a hard thing to gain, and easy to lose, especially in the world of the Shinobi. And if she was to stay with them, she had to be aware just who she was working with. That in itself was also a risk, considering what she knew now.

"Hey, what's with the two of you? You've been sulking ever since we sat down to eat" Haku not too subtly asked.

"Ehm, Haku... there are a few things we didn't say about ourselves" Yugao began.

"So? I haven't said a lot about myself either." She responded, making the two actually blink in realization "You actually didn't' think about that?"

"Uhhh" Naruto trailed off, somewhat stupidly, all the while scratching the back of his head. Yugao was little better, though a little more dignified.

"How bout this, I trade a bit about myself, and you say a bit about yourself. Fair?" she tried diplomatically.

"Okaaay. Sure. Who's gonna start?" Yugao asked.

"I will" Naruto countered instantly, moving his fingers to his eyes to pop out the contacts, revealing is blue eyes "My name is Namikaze Naruto, son of Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina, and the jinchuriki of the Kyuubi. Also, I am a former citizen of Konoha, in voluntary exile. As an added note, my hair is actually blond, not brown." he finished, a light smile on his face, while Haku was simply confused.

"And that's what you were concerned about? I picked out half of that just from watching you" she muttered under her breath. "Alright then, my turn. My name is Haku, no last name since I can't remember one, and my family is long gone. I have no formal shinobi training, but my mentor was Momochi Zabuza of the Seven Shinobi Swordsmen of the Mist, until his death a year ago. I am the last surviving wielder of the Hyoton, or Ice Release bloodline."

"Fine, I guess I'll join in as well. I'm Yugao Uzuki, former ANBU of Konohagakure. I have a number of skills, but I want to finish eating before discussing anything more." Yugao stated with a rather angry glare aimed at the two who interrupted her meal. Naruto and Haku could only gulp, and nod in agreement. All three of them knew that it was Yugao who kept order in this household, and of course, neither were in the mood to run away from a pissed off sword wielder.

A while later, Naruto was once more enjoying the pleasure of lying comfortably on the roof of their warehouse with a pillow under his head. If the region wasn't so well known for sudden rains, he would have gladly slept outside. Still, peace and observation of the starts above was not to be had, apparently, as two figures made their way out the windows. '_Both Haku and Yugao came...wonder why?'_

"Beautiful night" Yugao commented as she dropped next to him, Haku doing the same on his other side.

"While I don't mind the company... did you want to say or ask something?" Naruto asked after a few seconds.

"Uhm... not really" Haku lied. She had wanted to ask him something, and from how it looked to her, Tenre, no, Yugao did as well.

"Just thought I'd take a look at what you saw in the skies every night you were here... never could figure it out till now." she giggled lightly "It really is beautiful" she finished. Perhaps she really didn't have anything to ask. And silence descended... not that anyone really minded though.

Both girls found a surprising amount of comfort just being around the blond

* * *

**Author's notes: **Weird, I know. This chapter was needed as a base for several events that would happen in the relatively close future. And yes, the confrontation between Jiraya and Naruto is left for next chapter, because I'm evil like that. And I don't have the time to do it justice in this one.

Also, A bit more is revealed about Naruto's plans, financial future, Asuma's team, Barok, and a few other choice maters. I hope that will be enough to keep you content for a while.

Oh, and to answer one potential question immediately. No, it wasn't Naruto who came up with the entire plan, it was a join effort of the entire team. The 'speeches', were mostly done by Haku and Yugao.

Also, I'd give you a fair warning NOT to assume everything just by the stuff you read. :D

You'll likely figure out what I meant in a while.

Oh, and I thought I'd give a hint that might interest you. There will finally be serious shinobi battles in the following three chapters. Several of them in fact... and Naruto, Yugao and Haku will finally show a good chunk of their ninja skills.

Read and review ladies and gentlemen. I look forward to reading your reviews. :D

Till next week... bye-bye!


	12. Money, Armor and Perverts

**Author's Ramblings:** I would first and foremost like to thank my reviewers Red and Goliith for pointing out a rather major error on my account in the last chapter, where Barok tells Naruto the 'info' in the form of stuff he already knows. By the time you are reading this, it will have been fixed, and I recommend that you reread the last part of the chapter to see what has been changed, because it _will_ have impact on the storyline.

Anyway, shortly put, I've changed the fact that she tells him about the Mizukage being a jinchuriki, into her telling him that he left something behind, and where he can find the 'clues' as it were.

Well, enough about that. I'm back to town after a very long weekend of working my ass off helping my family, and I'm in the mood for writing, rather than complaining. So, onward!

* * *

_Chapter 12 : Money, Armor and Perverts  
_

"Unhhh" Naruto loudly groaned, waving his hand to chase away whatever it was that was pecking on his other one. '_Waaaait a second, pecking?'_

His body jerked up, eyes immediately opening, and the crow that had spent the better part of the last ten minutes pecking on his hand in curiosity cawed before flying off. Apparently, it found it interesting that his hand healed before it could peck it again. '_Stupid bird..._'

"Ughh... now I'm hungry" he muttered as he took stock of his surroundings. A puff of smoke nearby, and the shadow clone that had been watching over the three of them while they slept dispersed, and he only glanced over the memories, knowing that if there was something important, he would have been woken up sooner. However, that did not explain just how he managed to fall asleep on the roof...

"Mezuro! Get your ass down here!" Yugao's voice startled him and ended his train of thought. Well, not like it was important, right? Right!

Using the edge of the roof to swing inside, he was surprised to spot Hinamori sitting with the girls, chatting. Gossip, if he heard correctly.

"Hey" he lamely muttered as he landed on his favorite chair, slightly surprising Hinamori, while Yugao and Haku took it in stride. They were used to his antics, and the explosions that tended to follow.

"So, will you finally tell us what's going on Hinamori-san?" Haku asked with a mild note of irritation in her voice.

"Okay, okay no need to get angry" she replied, waving her hands defensively "Tensai-kun..eh san" she started, hoping that they by some miracle failed to notice her slip of the tongue "has finished the first part of the preparations Mezuro-dono. In fact, by now, he should have everything ready to have the company 'Mirage' in the books, officially, and he said to give you this, saying that you'll understand it. He said it was his first report" she finished, removing her light jacket, and opening a completely invisible pocket on the interior back of it, pulling out a pair of papers, stapled together at the top. Near the top corner, he could see a rather impressive merchant house insignia, made of a red cloth, and a sword placed over it, standing atop two crossed white feathers. He also contently noted the small seal right underneath it, one that was specifically made for messengers, to near instantly destroy sensitive documents in the case they were caught. All it took was a coded application of chakra to a paired seal somewhere on the wearer's body, and the paper the seal was inscribed on would be reduced to dust.

'_Kaichi-dono,_

_it's been done. I created a paper trail leading to a recently destroyed port city in the east of Water Country as Mirage's area of origin. Since the population is completely gone, there are no witnesses to claim that this isn't an older company only now resurfacing, and because we are using a previously existing infrastructure, the task was quickly done. Also, I have taken the liberty of setting my self as the chief executive of the Habuse main branch of the 'Mirage' company. You are the off-the-books owner of the company, while officially, it belongs to a mercenary group under the name 'Mirage', hence the company name. While no record of such mercenary company exists, that will hardly be a problem as I __have decided to 'politely' withhold such information from the general public. All companies, plantations, warehouses, mines, and other estates as well as captains under the former employ of my father (those whose services we shall keep under your terms and instructions) have been informed of the change in ownership, or will be, when the messengers sent to them arrive. As Gato previously ran his business from the shadows, holding ownership, but appearing nowhere officially, it should be easy sailing from here on._

_On to the second, less than flattering part of this report. I regret to inform you that four out of the ten ships in your employ have recently been sunk, one of them being blown up by explosives, while another has been decommissioned yesterday, as according to the words of the captain, it had more leaks than his valet. I have little understanding of nautical and ship terms, but my contact at the shipwright says it's unsalvageable. I have taken the liberty of employing two more captains, and their respective ships to cover the legal routes those five ships were covering, as well as informing the captains of the remaining five ships to stop any and all trafficking of contraband. However, our weapon shipments are still on schedule to Tea, Sea and Cloud country._

_As a final note, I have taken the liberty of buying a piece of real-estate containing what would be a perfect building for the offices. By now, the new sign should have been placed, and the new furniture should be in, as well as a number of employees I have hired to keep the job going. Bottom line, I've spent roughly a tenth of the total financial resources to jump start this company, and I've managed to start it up now, as opposed to later, with the benefit of it having effectively existed for a while. And if you're concerned about profits, they should be forthcoming within two weeks._

_This is all that I have achieved in the past day, though by the time you're reading this, I will likely have more news of interest. The address beneath the report is the location of the new headquarters of your company, so feel free to pay a visit as soon as you can. I look forward to discussing several investment matters when you do._

_Gato Tensai, acting CEO of Mirage Company'_

To say that Naruto was shocked at the efficiency of the newest man under his command would be quite an understatement. The plan was sound to his mind, though that wasn't saying much, considering that he had only minimal ideas how the financial world operated. He barely managed to hold his mask of general indifference and boredom as he rolled up the papers, immediately sealing them up in a small seal on his arm. He would go over it again later.

"Good news I presume Mezuro-dono?" Hinamori offered politely

"Excellent ones, in fact. Thanks for delivering the report, care to stay for breakfast?" Naruto returned equally, slightly surprising his two partners. After all Naruto was everything but polite.

"Ehm... sure?" she tried, slightly confused. So far, she had noticed that Mezuro was the leader here, and apart for advising him, the two ladies followed his orders. And the same could be said of her and Tensai.

With practiced ease, the desk was quickly cleared up, Naruto and Yugao removing the various stacks of paper that served no purpose in particular, except to clutter up space, making room for the meal Haku had went to cook. At the same time, Hinamori could hear the soft whistle as Haku kept chopping vegetables, she assumed, and Naruto came out with a stack of plates, while Yugao dug out the cutlery from Kami knew where.

And within ten minutes, they were sitting down and having breakfast, Haku bringing in fried rice with eggs and meat, as well as fried eggs, and finally some sort of sauce that none of them could identify, but tasted nicely. It was a short, quiet event, and soon enough, Hinamori left, leaving the three of them alone.

"Hey, I'm off to study the 'stuff' we got from our last job" Naruto excused himself, rushing off to the workshop before the two had a chance to do anything.

"Did he just do that to evade clearing up?" Haku asked rhetorically, anger slowly rising. "MEZURO!!"

Naruto wiped the nonexistent sweat of his brow as he activated the last of the security seals on the inside of his workshop. It was finally time to rifle through the goodies the got, and to see if they could be broken down and recreated. He almost drooled over the idea of having multiple suits of chakra armor available... however, he realized that he didn't have the faintest idea just what said armor did, and how it operated. His more logical side reminded him that turning such a tool into a potential crutch for his, and their development in general would only harm them in the long run.

Focus once more restored, Naruto walked toward the only clear desk in the relatively small, crowded room, pulling out the scroll that contained the armor, and unfurling it on the desk, a small pulse of chakra delivered via his strings unsealing the scroll's contents.

The armor was impressive, he had to admit that much. A very light suit, made of some rather unusual material that only slightly reflected light, and colored completely black, apart for a circular crystalline plate at the chest. Even the plate itself was black, either some sort of obsidian or onyx likely, he assumed, though he wasn't sure. He was sure though, that the disc was the core of the device, and a cursory inspection revealed a number of relatively simple, but ingeniously used seals as well as all sorts of rather impressive gadgetry, conductors and other small devices.

As a whole, from what he could gather, the armor served to constantly draw out small amounts of chakra outside of combat and store it throughout several key points around the central disk, which, when needed would forcibly draw some amount of chakra from the wearer's body to fuel itself.

So, he did the next thing that came to mind, he put the suit on (after checking for any failsafes... one could never be too careful). At first, he had no idea how to activate it, but soon enough, several small symbols appeared on the palm of his hand, lit up by his own chakra, each of them symbolizing in turn 'Activation', 'Deactivation' and 'Amplification'. Apart from the obvious two, Naruto had no idea what the third one did, so, he did the first thing that came to mind... made a shadow clone and had him activate it.

To say that the results were impressive, would be the same as saying that the sun was a little on the warm side. A brilliant sphere of energy immediately surrounded the armored clone, cutting straight through a bit of the table, but also disrupting the clone itself within five seconds. Apparently it put too much stress on it, and from what he got from the memories, it was the chakra drain that truly killed the clone, not physical damage. It would seem that even _half_ of his chakra wouldn't be able to sustain it for long.

Once more, Naruto had to suppress a maniacal laugh as brilliant ideas strung themselves in his mind. Though those fled soon, as he remembered he still didn't have more than an inkling of how the device worked

"Now let's see if I can figure out how it works" he muttered as he began taking it off, laying it on the table, and taking out a small notebook, along with a pencil. All traces of humor left his face as it relaxed, and his eyes gained an unusual edge of focus. As he carefully observed the armor on the table, his hand almost automatically began copying each and every seal on the surface, while at the same time adding notes about it's functions and ideas for later.

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By now, the actions of the small group had already settled into a daily routine, as if following some unspoken agreement. After breakfast, they broke up to train/tinker, with Naruto ending up locked in his workshop, while Yugao would use a part of the large storeroom of the ground floor of the warehouse for her swordsmanship, and Haku would the other part for her ninjutsu.

Once more, Haku went through the long string of handseals that formed the Demonic Ice Mirrors, her one signature, unique ability. It was a common misconception that the so-called subelements couldn't be recreated without a specific bloodline. Every shinobi that originated in Snow Country was perfectly capable of creating and manipulating snow and ice.... however, there was a world of difference between that and Hyoton, just as there was a world of difference between a using a sword and being a swordsman. Where others would simple _use_ the element, a bearer of the bloodline _was _the element, in a spiritual and a very physical sense.

Something Haku had no issues abusing whenever needed.. Water Country had one rather beautiful advantage for any Suiton or Hyoton user... the air was inherently moist, and the massive amounts of ever-present water made the execution of any such jutsu a lot easier. In front of her, a small mound of ice had formed, and out of it, a tree seemed to grow, a white, translucent, crystalline tree.

Yugao, on the sides, watched in fascination as Haku kept her eyes focused on the growing ice plant, chakra slowly, carefully molded as the tree grew from a seed, into a sapling, slowly making a crown upwards, as small leaves began to sprout from the growing branches. In a few moments, many of those leaves began to fall off, one by one, as the tree kept growing, easily reaching a meter in height.

"Release" Haku whispered, and rapidly moved from one handseal to another, causing the tree to explode into ice dust, slowly falling to the floor.

"Amazing" Yugao whispered, after finally tearing her eyes from the sight. "How do you..?"

Haku smiled serenely, the soft gleam on her face relaying just how much she enjoyed doing this, before she turned to Yugao.

"It's an exercise developed in the time when the clan my mother once, long ago belonged to, was more numerous. It was in part art, but mostly an exercise of control over the bloodline." Haku explained."It's quite tiring though... my chakra reserves aren't yet high enough to be able to handle it for a long time. There is one other, but I'm not good enough for it yet."

"Well then, let me help out a bit." Yugao quickly countered her deteriorating mood. And so the two continued to train, sharing a few of their exercises to both of their benefits along the way.

The day passed quickly, and night came. After a better part of ten hours spent working on the armor, Naruto could safely say that he had near perfect understanding how it operated, and that he had most of it's specifications, the chakra drain to protection ratio, and even a good idea how to replicate the effect. But more importantly, he had two more tasks to accomplish for today. One was to pay a visit to Jiraya, while the other was to visit Tensai and talk about his new company. He had to admit, he liked the idea very much.

He quietly got outside, dressed in his usual clothes, as he knew the girls had long gone out (the place was completely dark, so it was either that, or they were asleep).

Night had already fallen, though the city was still vibrant. Passing from the empty docks to the livelier streets, Naruto slowly made his way towards the inn where he was told he could find Jiraya. The building was inconspicuous, just another in a long row, with only a sign differentiating it from the other shops and stores there. He walked in, leaving a handful of coins to the woman that worked at the reception, just as the note instructed, and proceeded to the second floor.

The creaking of the steps did little to stop him from going nervous. He wasn't a little kid anymore, so he couldn't afford to just go out and meet someone. Jiraya the Toad Sage wasn't just the author of Icha Icha paradise, oh no, the man had one of the most colorful entry in the Bingo books to date. S-Ranked, with over ten million combined bounty from more than a dozen different people or groups, and for the strangest of reasons apparently. It would seem that the Earth Daimyo didn't appreciate his sole daughter making an appearance in one of his books. Go figure. Other entries on the list were... less colorful. Unofficial mission status added up over fifty S-ranked missions, and over a hundred A-ranked ones. It was also stated that he was one of the world's premier seal masters, and a master of both summoning and ninjutsu. Even at the age of fifty, the name Jiraya was one that inspired fear, respect and in some cases loathing, though the reasons for each were open for discussion.

That was enough for Naruto to be on his guard. This man may have some relation to him, but he couldn't afford not to be careful, as he didn't just have his own life to worry about now.

In silence, he finally reached the door he was looking for, and knocked.

"Come in." came the voice from the other side. There was no doubt he was expected. Naruto steeled himself, and put on a calm face as he opened the door.

The room beyond was small, homely in fact. A futon was rolled out in the middle, while a traditional, low desk filled one of the corners, unused. Two large windows stared out into the night sky.

Atop the futon, a rather eccentric looking man sat, and there was no mistaking the long spiky white hair, nor the red vest. Not to mention the two red tearmarks under his eyes. It was Jiraya.

"Have a seat Naruto." he quietly stated "I was just finishing up on my writing. Sake?" he offered, before laughing at the look Naruto gave him. "No worries, it's not poisoned, or laced with anything. Just pure and clean sake."

"Fine." Naruto mumbled, sitting down on the pillow that Jiraya indicated and taking the offered saucer.

"So," he asked, taking a short pause to drink some of the sake "why did you ask to meet me?"

It was only then that he noticed a network of seals spread out from beneath the cushion. A restraining array, no doubt. While slightly surprised, he kept his cool. The man had a reason as to why he was doing this.

"I repeat myself, why did you ask to meet me?" Naruto stated nonchalantly, ignoring the fact that he was now trapped inside a small barrier field, while he took a sip of the sake handed to him. Unsurprisingly, it was clear of poison.

"Funny. I expected more of a reaction. You've improved." Jiraya retorted, though it seemed like he was more talking to himself than to Naruto. "Fine brat, I haven't got all week anyway." he added, and slowly moved his hand away. The barrier dissipated.

"By now, you likely know about your mother and father, not to mention a certain, furry individual." Jiraya started, waiting for the teen to nod, which he did. "To be perfectly honest with you, I was supposed to be your godfather, and I was supposed to look after you should something happen to Minato and Kushina. However... plans rarely survive contact with real life."

Naruto chuckled, mildly. He was aware of Jiraya's 'other' position in Konoha, mostly because he had overheard the old man speaking of it several times, and when he had asked him to explain what a 'spymaster' was, he did so. He already had a good understanding of where Konoha's strength stood back then, and he was somewhat aware that one could not divert attention from his village by staying there all the time. And his recent experience taught him that if nothing else, traveling over the world as a baby would not have been good for either of them. He didn't like it, but it was the truth. One of many he had to swallow recently, which made it even less pleasant.

"I guess, I wish to apologize for not being there for you when I should have. I know..."

"Don't. Stop apologizing. It won't give me back the years I spent alone, nor will it change anything. Words don't solve problems. For what it's worth I don't blame you. I understand my father had to make a similar choice. The safety and happiness of one against many." Naruto responded, cutting him off. While he felt next to nothing for the man, he understood. Even if it hurt more than just a bit. Would he be able to do the same? "What I want to know, is why you didn't visit me even once?"

Said words caught the sannin completely off guard, and the shock on his face was visible, if only for a moment.

"Not visit you... what the hell are you talking about? I've stuck around to play with you several times, haven't I? Sure I wasn't able to visit you the last six years, but I was under cover, in Kumo and Iwa, I didn't go back to the village until a week ago. Besides, who do you think gave you that frog valet you had? By the way, you still have it, right?" Jiraya spoke, trying to figure out just what the hell was going on. It's not like he had never seen the boy before, even if it was a while ago.

Naruto was having similar problems. While trying to remember just how he got the valet, he realized that he drew a complete blank. In fact, he still had it sealed somewhere among his belongings, an object he had saved for whatever whim he felt when he had left the village. But he also clearly didn't remember Jiraya. What the hell was going on?

"Naruto. I think I might have an idea about what happened. It's a wild guess, but it might be it. Tell me, what do you remember of the orphanage you grew up in?" Jiraya asked cautiously. It might have been it, but he wasn't yet sure.

"The orphanage? The old, grayish building with the..." he stopped for a moment, trying to remember, only to find out he couldn't. Almost panicking, he quickly moved through a number of other memories, only to notice that most of them were still there. So why was that part gone?

"Tell me something, the last time I've seen you, you were seven, and you were supposed to start the academy any day then. You weren't that enthusiastic about it, but still. Sensei told me you found an old workshop of some sort, he wouldn't say more. Did you by any chance trigger any seals inside?"

Once more, Naruto thought back hard, trying to remember. There was one... a security seal of some sort, he remembered that.

"Security seal for the place. The old man found nothing wrong with it." he quietly answered. Jiraya nodded.

"May I take a look at _the_ seal?" he asked, voice completely serious, to which Naruto nodded, and raised his shirt, while channeling a bit of chakra. Immediately, the spiraling form of the seal on his navel appeared, and Jiraya carefully studied it, humming lightly at the same time.

"Well, I can see one problem here, though I can only speculate if it caused the memory loss." he quickly stated "A part of this seal filters some of the Kyuubi's chakra into your own constantly, increasing your chakra reserves. It also means that there's a small trickle of it inside you. Not enough to have any direct effect but...."

"Enough to perhaps react strangely with a seal?" Naruto tried, bringing out a smile from the white haired man.

"Clever brat. You're quite good at this, aren't you? Never mind, I think it can easily be fixed by altering a small part of the side array connected to the main seal." he continued, blinking in confusion when he spotted the blank look Naruto was giving him.

"Wait... you had the mother of all seals on your own body, and it never occurred to you to take a look at it?" he asked incredulously. Maybe being an idiot was an inherited trait. Minato was just like that many times. A short nod from the brown haired boy was his answer

"Well that's rich. Heh, might even be able to give you a few hints there. Your dad was a genius in the field, though there were limits to what could be achieved. Basically, the seal is connected to each of your major organ groups through a secondary array. With me so far? Good. The one that connects to your nervous system might have had a ...glitch. It happens occasionally, especially to jinchuriki, and it's nothing really dangerous in this case. You wouldn't suddenly forget how to walk or something." Jiraya explained.

"This is going to take all night, isn't it?" Naruto asked, voice full of mock disappointment. His answer was a smack on the head with a book.

"If you don't like it brat, the door's over there. And don't forget the book. Can't have my godson not know the glory that is Icha Icha!" Jiraya proudly stated, bringing out a laugh from the teen. Sure, he still had something of a grudge against him, but at least he was fun. Not to mention helpful. And even if he didn't want to do it for himself, he now had to look out for Haku and Yugao as well, and the truth was, even with all the issues, he actually missed having a man to talk to. Being surrounded by women all the time can't have been perfect for his mental development.

"Fine, fine. I'll stick around... you old pervert." Naruto jibed back with a grin on his face.

"That's _Super_ pervert to you!"

* * *

**Author's Notes:** And finally done, a bit on the short side, but still. Now, for the details. Tensai is very capable, as he was trained by his own just as, if not more capable father, who showed him most of the tricks of the trade. And in his spare time, he picked up a number of other skills, and established something of a reputation. With those resources and skills, as well as the financial fortune of Gato Shipping at his fingertips, what he just pulled off is not nearly as difficult as it appears.

Also, I will not be revealing who Barok's sister was for a while yet, nor her real name/identity. That will have to wait for another arc or two, as the events that will follow it are rather important.

The scene with Jiraya serves two purposes. To reintroduce them to each other, and to give them something that takes both of their attention from the more unpleasant subjects on to something closer to both of their hearts. It really made no sense (except to Kishimoto apparently) for Jiraya not even to check up on his godson, and to be honest, it was the only sensible answer for Naruto having that wallet, and any other toad paraphernalia.

I actually had to spend a while thinking of a legitimate reason for Naruto to suffer partial memory loss that wasn't connected to some evil bastard in Konoha wanting to disable him. That would have been too much cliché.

I intend to turn Naruto into something of a pervert along the line. Not the excessive, I-read-Icha-Icha-where-ever-I-go variant like Kakashi, or Jiraya's peeping, but a healthy level he would and should have normally developed. Let's face it, each and every one of us has a bit of the pervert inside him or her. It's only a mater of how much we show it.

Also, here are the profiles for Gato Tensai and Numenai Hinamori

_Profile_

_Name:: Gato Tensai_

_Sex:: Male_

_Age: 22_

_Occupation:: Merchant_

_Appearance_

_ Height:: 1.70_

_ Weight:: 80 kg_

_ Hair color:: Black_

_ Eye color:: Red_

_ Distinguishing marks:: Tensai is nearly skelletaly thin, a trait he inherited from his mother, _

_ while in fact being in perfect health. The red eyes are also from her._

_Character info_

_ The sole son and Heir of Gato Himura, of Gato Shipping, Tensai is a trade genius, with natural_

_ instincts that would make men many years his senior green with envy. Trained by his father, _

_ before the man decided to off him, he knows a lot, and has many connections. Currently, he _

_ serves Naruto's Mirage group as the CEO of the Habuse main branch, providing a financial _

_ cover, as well as the company's now vast resources, while increasing the original wealth._

_Profile_

_Name:: Numenai Hinamori_

_Sex:: Female_

_Age: 18_

_Occupation:: Former kunoichi of Mist, genin rank_

_Appearance_

_ Height:: 1.60_

_ Weight:: 55_

_ Hair color:: Black_

_ Eye color:: Brown_

_ Distinguishing marks:: None in particular_

_Character info_

_ While Hinamori, in obvious way, is no one of importance, she is regardless a skilled kunoichi, _

_ who survived Mist's grueling training regiments before the civil war. Born out of a civilian _

_ family, and with no wealthy benefactor to back her up once the war broke, she was reduced to _

_ acting as a bodyguard to fat, slimy merchants, that is, until she came across Tensai. Currently, _

_ she serves as his secretary and messenger, though if need be, bodyguard as well. Also, she has a _

_ huge crush on him, though she would never admit it openly_


	13. Intricacies of Business

**Author's Ramblings:** Hey everyone, here's the newest chapter of the story. I've decided to visit a few things I had in mind, and to bring up a few other things, but enough of that, you're here for the story, not my ramblings.

Shortly put, a new arc begins from the next chapter, and certain changes will soon happen, not to mention that after this arc, and the civil war arc that will come next, I will institute a time skip. Yes, cheesy, abused as hell and whatnot else, however, I have no intention on wasting multiple chapters on Naruto and the gang inventing training and whatever else may come. I'd like to keep a few things secret for the cheap thrills later on. Oh, and I decided to give a short spar between Haku and Naruto for entertainment. I do hope that you don't mind.

Anyway, enjoy the chapter, read, review and all that stuff.

_

* * *

Chapter 13 : Intricacies of Business_

_(07:00, Streets of the port city of Habuse)  
_

Dawn had finally come to Habuse. The soft sound of chirping birds was slowly being replaced by that of the city waking up from it's rather short slumber. The fine mist that hung around the city was dispersing as more an more people came out. Merchants went to open their stalls and stores, craftsmen walked to their shops, and the ever present patrols kept their vigil over the streets. Somewhere among the rooftops, a number of shinobi moved unseen, keeping watch for intruders.

The skies had cleared since last night, Naruto thought, the pulsing in his head finally reduced to bearable levels. How he allowed Jiraya to convince him to ago on a drinking binge was beyond him, but he had gotten drunk, and the killer hangover that morning wasn't something pleasant.

The occasional splash as he stepped into a puddle, as well as the chatter of the people surrounding him were a part of what kept him awake, but what realyl kept him sharp still, were the things that had been said last night, regardless of the constant pressure on his head.

_(Flashback, Last night)_

"For now just shut up and listen, okay? There's a lot I need to tell you, and little time to do so." Jiraya stated, and for the time being, Naruto did just that, sat down quietly and listened.

"Kid, I've been around for a long time. I've been through two great wars, seen death on a scale you couldn't even begin to comprehend." Jiraya somberly spoke, throwing a tired, wistful look at the moon outside as he took a sip from the saucer.

"It's been a while, but I have that feeling in my bones, like old men when a storm is coming. And this old man feels that the next storm that comes will make this civil war here seem like two kids throwing pebbles at each other."

Once more, he stopped for a moment, gathering his thoughts.

"There's a... group of sorts, that's gathering now. I am unsure of their objectives, but I know that they are after the tailed beasts and their containers. Naruto, if you wish to have any chance of survival at all, you'll need all the help you can get. Since you've pretty much cut all ties with Konoha, surround yourself with allies who will stand with you through thick and thin. Gather your strength, for it's only a question of time before they turn their gaze towards you. And here's a rather disturbing piece of information, but one that will give you some perspective of what you face: Orochimaru was among their weaker members."

That certainly did put things into perspective. Orochimaru was a name he remembered well from the Bingo books. Basically one of Konoha's two most wanted, along with Itachi Uchiha. Very powerful, very dangerous, and one of the few people in the world to earn the classification 'S-rank'. The bounty on his head alone was enough to provide a person with a comfortable life till the end of his days. And he was one of their _weaker_ members? A terribly sobering thought. _'Wait a second, was? I"ll have to ask him later.'_

"The group is called Akatsuki, and for the time being all of their members seem to act as mercenaries for hire. You can recognize them by the fact that they wear black cloaks with red clouds on them, as well as straw hats. Well, that's enough information for you now. I'll send a package for you in a few weeks via Barok. She owes me a favor or two, so that won't be a problem."

_'So that's how he tracked me down so easily.'_ Naruto thought in mild irritation. Still, he couldn't say that she hadn't acted in his interest, even if it was Jiraya tracking him down. He'd have to talk to her about it as well.

"Now, before we get down to drinking, there is one final thing I want to do. I am going to give you an offer. A choice as it were. Your late father created two very powerful jutsus known as the Hiraishin, a jutsu that allowed instantaneous transport between two points, as well as a number of other things. And the Rasengan, a feat of pure chakra manipulation. It is still stands as the most lethal close range attack known to ninja. I'm afraid that the secret to the Hiraishin died with your father, but I know how to perform the Rasengan. Now, the offer is this: do you want me to teach it to you? Or..."

"What's the other option?" Naruto asked near instantly. He had to admit, Jiraya was as cunning as a fox, he knew he had the boy's uttermost attention.

"Or I could give you your father's notes on the jutsu and let you try and develop it for yourself." Jiraya stated. It was a plan he had come up with in the short time it had taken him to get from Konoha to Habuse. While he couldn't stay around to train the boy, as much as he had wanted to, he could help him out. Loyalties aside, he had promised Minato to look after his son, and these belonged to him.

Naruto remained silent for a while, thinking his options over. He had heard of the Rasengan, every academy student did, and even with the embellishments, a jutsu that could effortlessly shave off steel was a great power to be had. However, the second option meant that he would have to recreate it from scratch, without any outside help. A challenge, one that would improve all of his skills as opposed to just learning how to do it. _'Why, that clever bastard...'_ he quietly thought, as he knew that Jiraya had already judged his reaction perfectly.

"I'll take option number two. Besides, I'd prefer recreating it on my own rather than simply copying it." Naruto responded firmly. And Jiraya smiled before offering a boy a saucer full of sake.

"To my godson, growing up into a fine man." Jiraya offered _'and getting laid soon.' _he mentally added, and Naruto accepted the toast.

"To that." he spoke, taking a sip from the saucer. Sake really wasn't his thing, but for the sake of the occasion, he wouldn't mind "So, how did you know just what to do in order to get rid of that pocket of chakra?"

"Bah! That was the easy part. All I had to do was tweak the part of the seal that went into your nervous system to fix it. Sure, channeling a bit of that does keep you healthy, but it also makes it impossible for any excess chakra to dissipate. Hence, turn it off for a few minutes, and problem solved. Nothing to it." Jiraya answered, returning to his drink. "Now to a more interesting subject. How have you been doing while away from Konoha? Find any lovely girls aside from Yugao?"

"The old man didn't leave anything out did he?" Naruto chuckled back

"He didn't have a choice." Jiraya somewhat darkly retorted "It was either telling me _everything_, or, as I said back then, 'I doubt Kumo would mind having a new seal master'. Not that I would, but still..."

"I get the picture. Thanks for that. To answer your question, yes, I did come across a few nice girls on my journey so far.."

"Ho? Do tell..." Jiraya trailed off, suddenly sporting a small notebook and pencil that Naruto didn't want to know where he pulled out of. And from there on, Naruto retold some of his travels, carefully leaving out anything that might be dangerous for him and his group. Jiraya didn't press on with such details. From there, the two of them were already somewhat buzzed, so Jiraya passed over everything he wanted for Naruto to seal up.

_(End Flashback)_

Shaking his head slightly, he turned his eyes back to the street ahead of him, right after making sure that the scrolls in his possession were still under his vest. It was his legacy, as corny as it sounded. Maybe he'd finally get a chance to see just what was so powerful about that jutsu. Also, there was the subject of the seal on his navel, the one that held Kyuubi inside it. And then there was his sensei's last few scrolls, his puppets, not to mention the chakra armor and the generators acquired, and that's forgetting his chemistry and herbalism studies ...ugh... he'd need months for all of that! Months he wasn't sure he had, unless he could find somewhere more private to train. Well, at least he had access to the infamous Shadow clone jutsu... that was one advantage for solving that problem, but with highly theoretic subject there was a rather nasty limit it imposed in numbers, unless he wanted to end up in a coma. Five at a time, tops, if his calculations were correct

His second destination for the morning, after getting some much needed food to clean away the disgusting aftertaste that alcohol left in his mouth, was the new office building that Tensai had acquired. It was relatively easy to find, a darkish four story stone building. The doors were made of dark hardwood, lacquered and only slightly shining in the early morning light. It was imposing by any means, a detail he was sure would prove important at some point or another. He opened the large doors and walked inside into a rather pleasant lobby. Marble tiles covered the floor in a checkered black and white pattern, while a number of plants decorated the corners. A little bit away, he noticed a clerk. To his delight, he was greeted nicely by those working there, not to mention immediately guided to Tensai's office.

And he had gotten just in time to see Hinamori leaving, a slight blush on her face. Somewhere in the dark recesses of his mind, a figure of himself diabolically laughed, and put the fact under the 'teasing/blackmail material' file.

"Welcome to the seat of your new empire." Tensai proudly stated as he ushered Naruto into the office. It was by all means opulent, with a fine wooden floor covered by a silk carpet. A massive mahogany desk was the centerpiece of the room, with one large chair with armrests facing away from the window, while two more stood across the desk. The window,large enough to cast light over the entire desk, while at the same time freed of any hiding spots, was framed by two large bookshelves, made of dark, full wood. On the left side of the chamber, there was another large desk, this one having a number of slots filled with maps. Next to that were a recliner and a couch, as well as a small coffee table.

The right side was seemingly empty, a wall decorated with pictures and a single drink cabinet.

The entire room was lit by a large chandelier hanging above the main desk, as well as several smaller lights placed over important locations.

"So this is what you've been spending the money on? Impressive." Naruto finally answered after a few minutes of taking it all in.

The purpose of the office was obvious: to impress any potential trading partners and put some degree of pressure on any hostiles that visited. In fact, he had to admit that Tensai had chosen the place well, the building itself was at a very visible location, at the intersection of two major roads within the city, meaning that not many would be willing to start a mess there.

Nonchalantly, Naruto walked over to the seat reserved for the owner of the office and sat down. He was pleasantly surprised that he wasn't in the least challenged by the young Gato.

"Let's get to it. What did you have in mind?" Naruto shortly asked, having mentally prepared himself for a long lecture.

"I'll keep things short for you Mezuro-dono." Tensai responded in a very formal tone as he rolled open a map of the eastern part of the Elemental countries, covering Lightning, Water, Sea, Snow, Star, Tea and Fire countries, either whole or in relevant parts.

"By the time you got here, a few messengers returned, bringing both good and bad news. Which ones would you hear first?"

"Give me the bad news first."

"The first piece of bad news is that we lost another ship to an attack in Sea country. Rumors claim that some sort of sea monster destroys ships, and we have witnesses from the port, including a surviving crew member claiming the second piece is that one of the mines up north, on the border with Snow country was raided and caved in by explosives. Fortunately, the miners got out safely, and the ship that was supposed to pick up that week's quota of ore managed to get out with them, as well as the quota, so we haven't lost much... yet."

"And the good news?"

"You're going to like this. First of all, I figured out a way to negate almost all of the losses due to the loss of the mine, the only difference is which place to invest money, the choice is up to you. Both are in these files." Tensai explained, handing over two files to Naruto.

"Second, under my late father's employ, I was ordered to track down a number of artifacts. How my father even knew of these is unknown to me, but, I have managed to track down two to their present location."

"Oh? And how may I ask did you track them down?"

"I have a number of... acquaintances, among them is a woman named..."

"Barok perhaps?" Naruto interrupted.

"Yes. I suspect you've had dealings with her, no? Hardly uncommon. However, she possesses a very fine network of spies within this region, and for the right price, can track down almost anything. For me, she kept tabs on two object. First is the Sword of the Thunder God, a powerful weapon once owned by the Nidaime Hokage, Tobirama Senju, while the second is the Orb of the Coming Storm, who's maker is lost to history. The first is currently held by a ninja on employ in Tea country, while the other is in the hands of a collector in Sea country. I can give you the locations and profiles on both. Also, it is worth noting that a number of foreign ninja have recently moved to Sea country. There might be people of interest for you to recruit. I have taken the liberty of gathering the profiles on some of them as well."

"...I see. Excellent work." Naruto pensively stated, already deep into the first two files that Tensai had given him. The sheer amount of information thrown at him during the last twenty four hours was astounding, enough so, that he wondered how the headache didn't return. One thing came to mind as he read this. He had no clue which one of these would be better. In fact, apart from picking them at random, he had no way of making a valid decision. So, he chose the middle ground.

"Do them both. From what I see, we profit either way, no?" Naruto offered, and Tensai nodded, in approval.

"You learn fast _sir_." he jokingly stated "It really is the best decision. Forgive my impromptu test, but I was curious."

"Fine, just do it, okay? You do realize that when I _trusted _you with all the money, I put my trust in _you_." Naruto rather solemnly stated. "Do what you think is best, as I'm not even close to you on these grounds." he admitted. His words sparked a rather strange reaction from Tensai. The young man looked at him with respect.

Gato Tensai wasn't a leader, and he knew it. The boy before him however, was, and would only grow greater if given the chance. In fact, all the decisions he was aware of so far, and those he surmised from the events he knew of, only spoke of a keen tactical and analytical mind, one befitting of the nonexistent gray eminence he had formed as the leader of Mirage company. So, the young man came to a simple, but very important decision. Why not make that specter that loomed in the background_ real_? His own sources were telling him that something was slowly happening for the past few years. No concrete shape, just the movements of money and rumors that spread among traders.

"Then I will teach you to be. If we are to be successful you need at least some level of understanding about the power you now hold." he stated, quietly but full of conviction. Naruto recognized that voice, the kind that left no room for argument. And he honestly didn't mind, having long since learned that every skill you learned was useful to you sooner or later.

"Okay sensei." he chirped back, grinning when the obvious look of annoyance crossed his 'teacher's' face. Tensai still wondered just how this seemingly perfect little child assassin could be so normal at times.

"Before we begin though, there is one matter I'd like you to look into.." Naruto trailed off

_(15:23, The warehouse)_

"Have you seen Mezuro anywhere?" Haku asked in worried tone, while cutting up carrots to make lunch.

"No. But he can take care of himself. He'll come back soon enough." Yugao answered without looking up from her scrolls. _'Dammit! How come this seems so easy when he does it? ' _she inwardly grumbled as she studied the seals. Sure, like every ANBU operative she knew the basics of sealing, as in, she knew a number of seals by heart and how to replicate them as well as what they did... but that was it. Making new ones was beyond her. Still, the notes he left behind for her were his own from when he began to study seal making.

She had come up with an idea she wanted for her sword, but was unsure how to make it. Applying genjutsu to seals was incredibly difficult, even for simple ones. But a seal that would distort the immediate surroundings of the blade was an advantage she planned on obtaining. If an enemy couldn't correctly estimate the length, width and position of the sword, he wouldn't be able to block, parry or dodge it as easily.

"How can you be so relaxed about him being gone for so long? He could be in trouble..."

"Haku." Yugao cut her off "I trust Mezuro explicitly. He will return."

_'I wish I had your confidence.' _Haku thought as she turned to her work. It would be lunch time soon, and she hoped that the auburn teen would return soon. It was funny in some ways, but even with the very short time she spent with them, they both grew on her. Yugao, or Tenre as she went by, was usually calm and collected, a well trained ninja in control of herself, and yet she still showed signs of a girl in her teens, a part of her that seemed to be growing slowly. Naruto, or Mezuro, seemed to be cold, bored almost when talking to outsiders. With the two of them, and recently Tensai and Hinamori, he seemed more like a normal kid, or an mad scientist, depending on the time of day. She certainly wasn't in a rush to get on his bad side.

Dropping the freshly cut carrots onto the boiling oil along with the onions, she turned to the meat she was cutting up. She would have to look into that package she took from Gato's home after lunch. She still hadn't opened it, and while she had forgotten about it until they had returned, her curiosity was getting to her now. However, duty came first.

"That symbol is a bit off." Yugao nearly fell of her chair at the voice. Slowly, she turned to her left, to notice Naruto sitting in his favorite chair, leaning to the just-opened window, a smile on his face. Like he was there the entire time, and she never heard him come in nor open the window, not even for a moment.

"Do I even want to know where you've been?" Yugao asked, turning back to her scroll and fixing the seal that Naruto had pointed out. Irritating as it was, he still knew more about them than she did.

"Talking to Jiraya, talking to Tensai, getting out affairs in order" Naruto responded calmly in a near whisper, though a content smile was on his face "The usual. We might have to go somewhere soon."

"Again? Aren't we provided for a while?" Haku joined in, carrying in the lunch.

"We are. However, I was informed of a group that will at some point come after me. And I doubt that their intentions are.... honorable." Naruto trailed off, while waving his right hand in annoyance, but his face remained mostly calm. "I'll tell you all about them once we leave town. But in the mean time, let's eat, I'm tired and starved"

Lunch proved to be a quiet affair, none of them much in the mood for talking. Yugao would occasionally check her notes, Haku seemed in a hurry of some sort, and Naruto? He nearly fell asleep.

"Mezuro, you mentioned talking to Jiraya... what happened?" Yugao asked cautiously.

"You know him?" Naruto retorted.

"Kinda. My squad worked with him during a short mission on the border with Earth Country. He was perverted, annoying, self-centered at times... but that was until the fighting began." Yugao explained, putting away the papers she had been working on. "In my first year in ANBU, during a minor border skirmish, our squad got pinned down in a small valley. The enemy had us at five to one, they were better equipped and supplied to last for days, while we only had enoguh to last us for one at best. I still remember when captain offered to act as the lure while the rest of us got away, he merely chuckled and said to leave it to him."

Yugao stopped, a slightly vacant look filled her eyes, as well as what Naruto recognized as respect. Considering that the man was the self proclaimed Super Pervert, it was somewhat surprising.

"It took him fifteen seconds in total. During the first five, he sent five shadow clones to act as a distraction, while he himself moved through the earth to attack them from beneath. Before they even managed to dispel his first clone, the five of them unleashed a fiery dragon upon them, butting down their numbers by half at least. The rest died quickly when the original emerged from the ground and bombarded them with needles made out of that ridiculous mane he 's one hell of a warrior, and one of the people I respect deeply, even with his perverseness. " she retold the story. "So tell me, what happened?"

"He's my godfather." Naruto shortly responded, bringing up only a pair of widened eyes from Yugao, and a slightly shocked face from Haku.

"He gave me advice, left a few gifts, and told me to get laid." he continued. This time the reaction was different. Haku palmed her face, and Yugao burst into laughter. It was hard **not** to recognize where such comments came from, for anyone who knew him.

"That sounds like Jiraya alright." Yugao commented "So he's a friend then?"

"I'd think so. Still, this leaves me with no free time! I have a ton of stuff to work on!" Naruto near-whined.

"Oh? And what might that be?" Haku eloquently asked.

"Do you want the short or the long list?" Naruto deadpanned at her. "The more important thing is: we need a new place to stay. Somewhere were we can train safely and undisturbed by outsiders." he explained further. Yugao nodded in agreement, leaning back into her chair to think further.

"That might be something of a problem. Any major purchase has to be authorized by the Daimyo's court, and by extension by the Daimyo, Marusei Tokari herself." Haku explained. "Unless done subtly, it will draw a lot of attention to us."

"I've already asked Tensai to look into it. If anyone here, he'd know how to pull it off, and if the company is the official owner, I doubt it will be much of a problem, no?" he commented back."I think that covers everything. Anyone here in the mood for some light sparring? I think my taijutsu is getting rusty..."

"Mine too." Haku retorted "Downstairs?"

"Sure."

Neither paid attention as Yugao moved over to the nearby wall, grumbling the entire walk, and removed the privacy tag from it.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Haku eyed her opponent carefully. Naruto was not one to be underestimated, and if Yugao trained him, it likely meant that he was up to scratch. She wasn't completely sure of her taijutsu skills, as she was after all, first and foremost an assassin. Assassins don't fight openly.

"Ready?" Yugao asked from the side "Remember, no jutsus, no weapons or tools. Just pure taijutsu."

"Yeah."

"Got it."

"GO!"

Naruto was the first to begin, running forward towards Haku, body bent at a rather sharp angle, and kept up just by the speed of his motion. Haku dropped into a loose stance, keeping her arms close to her body for easier blocking, while her left leg was standing slightly forward.

The opening blow was hers, a low kick aimed at Naruto's bent chest, which the teen avoided, jumping, and landing a single foot to her own, while spinning and hitting her in the face with the other.

_'He used the wall walking to attach his foot to my chest before kicking me?' she silently analyzed as she got up from the floor_. She'd have to be more careful now.

Again, Naruto charged forward, stance unchanging. Calming down for the moment, Haku immediately moved for another kick, only for Naruto to twist back, and slide forward on his knees... just in time for Haku's leg to come down in an axe kick on him. In the last moment, he managed to twist away, avoiding most of the blow, though she still got him on the right arm. Rolling away, he stood still for a few moments, studying her. She wasn't going to give him the chance.

Naruto enjoyed himself so far. Haku wasn't in the least as incapable as she first presented herself, even if he was holding back on his first kick. Now though, his right arm hurt like hell, and it was certainly bruised. He shuddered to think what would have happened had that blow landed on his head as intended. Haku obviously didn't play around, and neither could he anymore.

From his crouching position, it was easy to dodge the sliding kick she thrust at him, and the first punch that came after. He jumped over her, twisting in the air to avoid her punch as she moved under him, and landing with his back turned to her. Big mistake, that, as he was suddenly propelled forward by two feet landing straight at the small of his back, and sending him into the nearby wall, leaving a few cracks in it.

Naruto could barely suppress the reflex of going after his kunai after that. He was messing around too much, and his concentration had dropped from slamming in the wall. Still, the push had given him some distance, thankfully, and enough time to calm down and focus. Never letting his eyes leave her, he took a deep breath and relaxed. A memory came back to him, of one of the scrolls he was reading on combat tactics

_'Remember, while your emotions will give you strength in combat, and constant practice will allow you to seamlessly execute your moves, it is cold harsh reason that wins the battle. Calm your mind, let your emotions flow but don't be carried away by them, let them pass your mind by. If your enemy thinks one step ahead, you must think two. If he thinks two, you must think three. Flaunt your weaknesses as if they were strengths and hide your strengths as if they were weaknesses. If your foe cannot ready, he cannot plan against you._'

Good old sensei, always a wise word. His advantages were his speed and endurance, as well as his ability to think ahead of time in combat. It was time to put those to his advantage.

Haku watched Naruto stand still for a few moments, as if he was thinking up a plan. From her own training, she remembered that giving your opponents time was never a good thing, but it really wasn't a matter of choice here. Again, she would likely have to...

_'Now what is he up to?'_ she thought in mild irritation as he once more charged. His stance had changed, however, as well as his speed. Raising her guard, she waited for him to come.

The attack came at her face, a fist heading straight there. Quickly, she blocked it, pushing his hand aside before he had the chance to land a blow. It was then that she realized that it was only a feint, as the second, hidden blow came straight at her stomach, and it was too late to block it or move aside. The fist quickly sunk in, knocking the air out of her lungs, and moving her a bit back by sheer brute force. The fight was over, she realized. And she had lost. She also felt the bile rising up from her recent lunch, but she fought it back.

"Damn, nearly got me there a few times." Naruto murmured, offering Haku a hand to get up. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just great." she quipped back sarcastically, bringing out a laugh from Naruto and Yugao.

"Hey, what do you girls say we go out and have some fun tonight? My treat."

"Why not. I could go with something to drink." Yugao answered.

"That would be great." Haku agreed.

"Well then, if anyone needs me I'll be in the workshop."

"Okay, I'll be upstairs working on my seals."

_'Which leaves me alone to check just what it was I found.' _Haku mused with a content grin on her face.

* * *

**Author's Notes**:And cut. That's it for this chapter, and for this inter-arc brake.

Yes, for all those curious, I'm going to keep writing Super Pervert with capitals, even if it is grammatically incorrect (probable). Why? Because I can. If you can add the verb to google to the dictionary, I believe I can be allowed this one minor liberty. And yes, I've left the contents of Haku's package a secret for now. It will all be revealed in due time.

Now, as you likely noticed, I pretty much listed out what Naruto will be doing for a while, and this is the final arc before the civil war section begins, before Naruto joins a side, and all the political mumbo-jumbo comes back into the story.

As far as Jiraya is concerned, I wanted him to be something of a friend, not just an ally for Naruto. While he has no obvious reason to help Naruto apart for him being his godson, I'll leave you to think about the other implications about his actions. Remember, I already stated a few times that I won't write _everything_ that happens.

Also, Naruto will soon be pulling a few new tricks, one of which I have to thank a reviewer under the name 'all forms of fluff' for. I'm not revealing anything else so that it would remain a surprise. Still, gotta hand it to the man (or woman, I'm not 100 percent sure on that, so sorry in advance if I'm mistaken), it's freakin' ingenious.


	14. Stormbringer : Overture

**Author's Ramblings:** I originally intended to write a long and complicated explanation on Naruto's regeneration, but frankly, that cut too much into my programming time. College comes first, unfortunately.

Well, for all those waiting for it, I've decided to pull another (hopefully) original action. Just wait and see.

For your information, this arc will be the longest yet, and the only other I have in mind that will last as much, or longer, is the civil war arc, after which the first part of this story will be over, and the timeskip will likely commence. How I'll handle the second part for the story remains to be seen.

* * *

_Chapter 14 : Stormbringer : Beasts of Prey_

_A week had passed in preparation and resting, as each of the three focused on their studies and training. An agreement had been struck for them to wait a bit before going on a new mission, and to spend that time planning._

_Naruto had instituted his five-clone strategy, spreading his time evenly between chemistry, the remaining five black scrolls from his sensei's cache, working on a new puppet, working on the notes Jiraya left behind, his chakra control, and finally, the original resorted to taijutsu training against a sixth clone that lasted only a short while, so as not to disrupt the others. Suffice to say, that the nightly headaches almost made him a frequent consumer of painkillers._

_Yugao and Haku kept practicing together, with Yugao finally completing the seal array for her sword and Haku improving more than a bit in taijutsu and then there was that pet project of hers, but that's for another time. The week passed, and the group of three had prepared themselves for their next job._

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The helmsman of the ship felt slightly uncomfortable because of the five figures that stood on the bow. All five dressed in dark gray, almost black cloaks, with hoods and masks hiding their faces, not to mention straw hats over the top. All five remained near perfectly still for most of the journey, one of them having merely given instructions when they boarded.

He had heard rumors from the others in the company that the big boss, the one who had apparently taken over the whole thing, had a number of highly capable ninja under his command. Normally, he didn't put much stock into rumors, but these five seemed to fit the description quite well. Even as the weather turned for the worse, they still remained outside, still as death.

The first place they were supposed to approach was Tea country, and at that point, the one in the middle (as it was hard to describe them by anything else but their relative position) raised his left hand and pointed out. Two of the cloaked figures on his left suddenly moved, jumping over, and seemingly running off on water, leaving him behind with the one who had a large naginata on his back, and the other who seemed to have a long package wrapped in black tape on his or her back.

And the journey continued silently.

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Naruto stiffened as he noticed the distant shore of Sea country. As all countries within the region, it consisted of one major island surrounded by several smaller ones. The island itself was relatively flat, having only a small number of hills crisscrossed by rivers near the middle. The two places there that interested him were the port city where he was now going, and the collector's estate, which was on a small island just a bit off the coast.

One thing that bothered him was that this was going to be even more challenging than normal, considering that his secondary mission here was to recruit a number of currently unaligned shinobi. He had gone through the list that Tensai gave him, and found only three groups of particular interest to him. First of those were a group named the Black Fang, a band of five trackers belonging to a now-defunct ninja village from within Earth country, that seemed to have joined with the last member of a clan of political exiles from Tsuchigakure, bringing their numbers up to six. Names unknown, but descriptions were given.

The second was a woman by the name of Guren, allegiance unknown or nonexistent, skills uncertain but ranked a B-rank threat in the bingo books. '_Talk about your lack of information, the only things present were a name and a picture.'_

And the final was even more curious, but marked off as uncertain. The oldest missing ninja in the Bingo books, Kakuzu, formerly of the Hidden Waterfall village. Well, that one was more of a warning, if the large, glaringly red letters 'AVOID' was any indication. For a person to be in the bingo books for sixty years, and for his bounty only to keep growing, one had to be quite powerful. Again, there was very little apart from the numbers of mercenary missions and bounty hunts the man performed. A scary number of 3071 bounties in total delivered to various bounty hunter posts over those sixty years, and roughly 2000 mercenary missions of varying rank, none under B. One point made him rather curious though, if he was that tough and dangerous, how the hell did the note of 'Greedy as a lawyer' get safely added to the bingo books?

He shrugged, the motion hid by his mask, and the sound concealed by that of the sea and ship. He would be cautious. There were locations mentioned for the first two, but the third was... for the lack of a better term, around the area. He let his mind go over it all in detail, mostly to pass the time.

"This will be enough captain. We leave here." Naruto calmly stated, his voice slightly modulated by the mask he was wearing. He noticed the captain nod, and just before he jumped off, he turned once more.

"Good luck in your endeavors captain. I doubt that the boss would appreciate you getting yourself killed."

Jumping over with an elaborate spin, immediately followed by his two companions, the three of them skidded across the surface of the water, as if daring someone to attack them. The late afternoon sun covered the area in it's final rays, though it was still quite cold, the slow advent of the oncoming winter showing it's first signs. For once, Naruto found himself very content that his clothes were more than usually warm, as they warded off the cold, biting wind that seemed to blow.

The two figures at his side remained quiet, eerily so, not even making any sounds as they landed on the water. Naruto smiled at that, proudly. After all, how many people could say that they created such lifelike puppets? Though to be honest, he did have some helpful inspiration from his sensei's scrolls. The evil grin at the wrapped up object on the smaller puppet's back went completely unseen. He could hardly wait to field test that little toy.

The port town loomed in sight, he would have to find a half-decent inn to stay the night.

'_Three people would attract too much attention. I better seal them up._' Naruto quietly thought, and proceeded to seal the two puppets into scrolls that immediately went under his cloak, and the vest beneath it. He avoided sealing them into seals written on his own skin for the simple reason of saving that surface for more important seals for later on.

Instead of rushing into the port town, Naruto decided to turn to it's immediate surroundings, since he yet remained beyond the line of sight of average people. He didn't want to attract too much attention to himself. Landing on an empty stretch of coast, he began a slow walk towards town.

He hadn't bothered to remember the name of the place, as it really wasn't that important to him, however, he knew that the first person he should talk to was the mayor of the town.

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Yugao remained still on a nearby tree as she watched Haku gather information, dressed up as a young girl this time.

"So Aoi-san traveled in that direction? Thank you so much kind sir." Haku answered kindly, offering a small bow to the innkeeper who seemed all too willing to help out the young girl. To think, in such a short time, she had gathered not only the name and location of current wielder of the sword they were supposed to retrieve, but his current destination and company. It was funny how ill-behaved ninja could be at times due to overconfidence. Not once did she and Haku show themselves as they were, not once were they more than a pair of harmless girls, or shadows in forest, unseen. Not that they would complain, it meant that their job was only easier this way. Arrogance had killed greater men than Rokushiko Aoi. '_And, well, it was his problem if he obviously has to compensate with a large sword.' _she quietly mused as Haku walked over to her in the bushes.

"Are we done here?"

"Uhuh" Haku confirmed "Aoi and his band of merry idiots have been traveling towards south. They left a few hours ago... he apparently was mouthing off about a well paying mission. Seriously, what do they teach jounin these days?"

"Damn me if I know... what do you think Mezuro wants with the sword?" Yugao asked, curious for her friend's opinion

"Probably to use it for one of his scary puppets." Haku responded, a shiver going up her spine. Those things scared her at times. Yugao could only chuckle, hiding the shiver that ran up hers. After all, Narutos' puppets _were_ scary when he wanted them to be.

"Let's just keep going, okay? I had enough of those things back home, no need to talk about them here as well." Yugao offered, and the two girls went on, both almost giggling at their little, private joke.

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"Finally!" a burly man dressed in work clothes exclaimed "I knew they'd send someone sooner or later. You're from Mirage you say?"

"Yes." Naruto calmly responded "One of our own ships was sunk here, and I, as well as my two partners, will look into the matter at hand. Any assistance you can offer is welcomed, especially information."

The two of them were sitting in the equivalent of an office, built in the traditional style. Unlike the ones he was used to, there were no chairs, and the only table, seemed more like a slightly raised platform. The tatami mats spread across the floor were comfortable though, as were the two wide pillows they were sitting down upon. Nothing too fancy, but warm and comfortable, more like a home than the workplace of an official

With a couple of short nods, the mayor took a few seconds to remind himself of everything useful he could. Thinking quickly, he pulled out a large, rolled up map, as well as a pencil.

"The attacks occurred here, here, here and here so far." he explained, each repetition of the word followed by him circling a small area "Now, bear with me on this, I'm no expert, but I'd say that the attacks could be coming from here, as they all seem to be at around the same distance from it. Worse still, I'd say that whoever is attacking has a very good idea of the timetables of arriving ships, from all directions." he added, pointing out a small island of to the northeast of the mainland.

"You don't seem to believe this the work of some monster, mayor...?" Naruto trailed off, waiting for the man to give his name. While he was slightly surprised that the man didn't do so, it was only fair to give some room. The town's only source of income, trade, was under heavy attack by something or someone...

"Mirako, and no. I don't believe this to be the work of some crazed monster on a rampage, the timing and accuracy of the attacks are too convenient. Though the idea of a monster guided by someone does come to mind..." the newly introduced Mirako trailed off suggestively. It was more than just an unpleasant idea, and Naruto knew, both from rumors and from practice that there were more than just simple animals in the world ( how else would one explain a 50 meter tall toad clad in armor and wielding a blade of some sort?). That, however, didn't mean he was in a rush to meet a hostile one.

"Alright, alright, I get it. Do you have a description on the.... thing?" Naruto finally asked, returning to the subject at hand.

"That's just the thing... we haven't got any reliable descriptions, as all the attacks came at night, and the only survivor of such an attack was a woman by the name of Guren, and she just upped and disappeared a day later. And that was a week ago, since then I have no idea where to find her."

"I see. Thank you for your help. I will look into the matter." Naruto offered a small bow, and got up.

"There is one more thing." Mirako's voice stopped him. To Naruto, he seemed hesitant, almost concerned.

"Yes?"

"There might be someone who can help you... a girl, who lives just outside the town, by the name of Isaribi. She's a pearl diver, though not overly popular around here, but the only ones who know these waters better are the fishes. She is a kind girl, and I would ask you to treat her kindly, if you chose to bring her in on this." Mirako explained, though Naruto felt that the last part was more of a personal request than anything else. It reminded him of himself somewhat, and of his own situation from not so long ago. It was a minor thing for him to do anyway.

"I'll try."

"That's all I ask. Good luck sir."

Over the next hour, Naruto got a very intense feeling of deja vu as he asked for the young girl's location. The faces people made were the ones often directed at him, not open loathing, but a fine combination of fear, hate and ignorance, with just the slight addition of misinformation and primal fear of all things different. Certainly, he no longer cared about what the 'good' people of Konoha thought of him, but he had spent more than a few days analyzing them and their feelings. Know thy enemy, first and foremost.

Eventually, he managed to find out the location from an old fisherman, who didn't seem to mind about the girl, and she apparently lived in a small cottage to the east of the town. So, taking note of the coming night, Naruto made his way there.

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_'We're still a few hours away from Degarashi port, and should they reach there, this becomes a lot more complicated than intended.' _Yugao mused as she and Haku kept running through the trees. The thick forests around them provided ample cover, and their mostly dark clothing blended in almost perfectly. The fact that night was soon coming was also an advantage, as both had sufficient training to work in low light conditions.

"How much further ahead of us do you think they are?"

"A couple o... wait, I see four figures, one of them a guy with an umbrella on his back." Haku started, only to correct herself as she spotted the four figures in the distance, a couple of hundred meters away from them, mostly noticeably identified by the light they were carrying.

"Good." Yugao whispered "Break up and circle around them, a hundred meters ahead should do it.. I'll drop a genjutsu on them, then we drop trees and ice on them." she explained the short and simple plan of attack.

"Got it."

Silently breaking up, the two of them ran in different directions, with Haku running to their left, and across the forest road, while Yugao kept moving forward to prepare the trap. She kept constant attention to the light as she moved forward, dodging trees as the light slowly moved past her, and finally behind her.

A hundred meters away from the group, Haku finally reached her position, and began placing additional exploding tags on the bases of the trees that were already tagged. Normally, this would do very little, however, the tripwires that were formed just over the forest floor would trigger more than just a few of them. Yugao had already done her job here, which meant that her part was now up, and that was to weaken the select few trees so that they could easily crash on the group.

_'Just a minute more...' _she idly thought as she finished her job, moving away just in time to avoid the coming light.

Rokushiko Aoi wasn't a fool. Fools didn't survive in the ninja world for long. When he recognized the glint of ninja wire against the light of the lantern, he slowed down, ever so slightly, to let the three fools he was saddled with take front, and trigger the trap.

The sound of the first explosion came immediately, just as the first of the three chunin under him caught the tripwire. What he didn't expect was for the explosions to continue in a chain around them, and start bringing down trees, easily two dozen of them in fact.

By rolling around, jumping and finally using the Sword of the Thunder God, it's vibrant yellow blade ripping through wood like a hot knife through butter, he finally managed to get on top, only to come face to face with his attacker, a person in a dark cloak with a straw hat.

_'Wait, didn't I see people like this somewhere before?'_

_'Clever bastard, maybe he isn't as much of an idiot as he makes himself out to be.' _Yugao thought as she finished going through several handseals before opening her mouth to whisper.

"**Earth Release : Mud Bullets"** she near quietly intoned, spitting out a rapid succession of five mud projectiles at him.

From the side, Haku remained hidden, going carefully through a long string of handseals..._'Just keep his attention peeled to you Yugao. Just a few more seconds'_

He barely had the time to duck and roll. Sure, his sword could cut through those bullets, but it would be pointless, as they would just flow around it and land in his face, or on his hands, disabling him. '_Not a good idea'_

The sword was useless against this enemy, he or she had simply found a way to bypass it's impressive combat capabilities, not to mention the fact that the light it gave off made him a beacon in the dark. With a snarl, he shut the blade off, reattaching it to a buckle on his belt that held it, and pulled out the modified umbrella on his back.

_'What's he up to with that umbrella... he's a Rain nin, so no ideas there... oh shit, I think I know.'_

As quickly as she could, she pulled two previously prepared kunai from the ground, tossing them at the ninja before rolling away into the shadows to pick up four more.

_'Again?' _Aoi wanted to curse loudly, but he knew it would only get him killed, as the two kunai landed on the ground under his feet and the sound of sizzling forced him to jump into the air.

"Now Tenre! **Ice Release : Frozen Pillar!**" Haku shouted as a four more kunai flew in his direction, identified only by the sound of metal whistling in the night. Before he could even try to dodge, he realized that he didn't feel anything under his waistline, except for numbing cold. And even that vanished under the flood of pain as the kunai struck their target.

"Slightly challenging this time around." Haku commented as the two of them begun the cleanup, gathering whatever supplies could be scavenged from the four, now dead, ninja.

"We got what we came for... might as well burn the bodies and get the hell out of here." Yugao added as she held the handle of the infamous sword in her hands.

"Agreed. Still, that sword sure is something..."

"Heh... I think we could convince Naruto for you to hold onto it." Yugao commented, breaking into laughter at the hopeful expression on the girl's face. "Come on, let's go. He's probably waiting for us down south."

"Hai, hai. Don't get your panties in a twist." Haku cheerfully returned as the two of them left the newly made clearing, heading straight for the coastline.

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Night was slowly falling as Naruto quietly studied the lay of the land on his way to the cottage. The path was there, but as the grass that now covered it showed, it was rarely used. The cottage, now visible, was atop a small cliff, with a side path leading to the beach bellow. It wasn't large, he summarized, a single story building made out of timber with a thatched roof, likely just solid enough to keep the rain out. No visible opening for smoke, to his surprise though... which likely meant that the fireplace or over was outside, if it even existed. It was little more than a glorified hovel. Still, not like he was used to great comforts, and home was home, wherever one found it.

Keeping himself completely visible, and as nonthreatening as possible, he kept his walk towards the building, hoping that he would spot someone he could talk to, rather than have to track the occupant or occupants down.

"Hello? Is anyone home?" he called loudly, only to receive a response of "Over here!" coming from the opposite side. He walked over, going around the old home, to come to its front porch, and notice a young girl sitting there. Well, younger than him anyway.

Isaribi was sitting right next to the front door, a small pot next to her where she dumped the what little meat she cut out of the oysters she was cleaning, and a small plate where a handful of small, somewhat dull pearls were. The quiet crackle of a fire that was burning in front of her was only interrupted by the occasional cry of a seagull and the loud clanks as another oyster hit it's growing pile, or a pearl joined the collection.

She seemed to be slightly younger than him, though it was hard to tell, as parts of her body were covered by bandages, though at some points, he noticed something strange, like a skin condition of some sort... probably something she picked up while diving. Her clothes were light enough, even with the coming winter, consisting only of a somewhat ill-fitting, bleached robe that was once probably sky blue, tied at the waist by the same bandages she used to cover her skin at several places. Her black hair was mostly short, though two long tails framed her face, tied at the end by faded red ribbons

"Can I help you?" she asked in a slightly edgy voice, obviously made nervous by his presence. Only then did Naruto remember just what he looked like. The set of clothes he wore was quite intimidating, when he thought about it.

"My apologies, at times I forget that I'm wearing this suit. I didn't mean to disturb you, but I was told that you may know something of the... sea monster that's been attacking passing ships?" Naruto politely tried. The girl stopped what she was doing for the moment, turning towards him.

"Sea monster, huh? Give me one reason why I should help you?" she retorted. The bitterness in her voice was not lost on Naruto. It was only then that Naruto noticed several unpleasant details. First of all, the girl had a few small, light scars on the skin of her bare arms. To his trained eye, those looked incision scars made by someone very skilled, and the way they followed the veins and nervous system was worrying at best. Second, her home, if it even was that, had broken windows, and the door seemed to barely hang on it's one remaining hinge. The now-barely visible traces of paint that seemed to form unreadable words completed the picture.

"Just like home." he near whispered. He thought she wouldn't, but the girl obviously did hear him

"What did you say?" she asked, her voice now a bit more subdued, her curiosity provoked. Naruto chuckled lightly, the modulation of his mask must have made him seem so much older than he truly was, when he was at best a year or two older than her.

"Would you hold this for a moment?" he asked, voice still perfectly polite as he handed her the straw hat that had but moments ago stood on his head. Quietly, she nodded and took it in her hands, as Naruto began divesting himself of the covering clothes.

Her shock was clearly visible when Naruto's young face showed from under the mask was obvious.

Quietly, he sealed his clothes into a storage scroll he then replaced in his vest, before sitting down on the ground, and looking at the sea, while resting on his hands.

"Life sucks doesn't it?" he offered, not really looking at her. "People can be so stupid at times, and so cruel as well." he spoke in a gentle tone, dropping completely on his back.

"You shouldn't lie down on the ground like that. You could get sick." she commented without any real intent, returning to her oysters.

"Can't get sick at all." was Naruto's response. "Back home, it was just another reason for people not to trust me, to ignore me."

"So? What did you do about it?" Isaribi asked, paying only a bit more attention than she did before.

"For years, I did everything I could think of to get their attention, to prove them wrong. In the end, I simply stopped caring anymore. And one day, I was forced to leave."

"Oh."

"There isn't really a moral to the story, but somehow, I felt I should tell you. Don't know, call it crazy intuition. What with all the broken windows and graffiti..." Naruto blabbed on, absently pointing at the wall behind him.

"So you noticed... I'm not really welcome around here." she stated, mild disinterest being the only thing present in her voice.

"Not hard to figure out. Couldn't get anyone to tell me why though. What did you do? Burn down their store of sake?" he offered jokingly.

"I came back, when their sons and daughters didn't." she stated bluntly, quickly getting up after throwing a final oyster onto the growing pile, and going straight inside to apparently deposit the pearls she extracted.

"So tell me again. Why should I tell you?" she asked, this time a bit colder.

"What do you want in return?" Naruto offered in turn.

"Nothing you could give, I'm afraid." she answered, shaking her head slowly as she walked towards the edge of the cliff, only to sit down and stare at the open sea ahead

"Try me." was his response, as he stood up, crossing his arms on his chest and walking over.

'_Is he really that stupid? Or just curious? Either way, he'll be gone soon._' Isaribi tiredly thought, and after a few seconds, she got up and turned around.

"Can you cure this?" she asked in an angry voice, removing the bandages off of her forehead and revealing a number of fish-like scales there. Of course, the reaction that followed was everything but expected.

"Hmmm.... exotic." Naruto stated, like a connoisseur after trying a fine wine. "Why do you even want to remove these? They look good on you."

To say that Isaribi was dumbfounded would be an understatement. Exotic? Looked good on her? The cause of her miserable life for the past year, and he dares say it 'looks good on her'?

"Are you insane?" she asked him, voice laced with growing anger

"Quite possibly." was Naruto's swift response "I certainly don't see why I should give any special reaction to those scales. I'm no expert, but it's probably curable. If you really want to, in exchange for your help while me and my team are here, I can pull a few connections and get you some treatment afterward. It's not that big of a deal for me." he explained stoically. And it really wasn't. At worst, getting the best of doctors, even the likes of Tsunade of the Sannin would barely scratch at the surface of the amount of capital Mirage now possessed. One of the finer aspects of trade was that large sums of money weren't that hard to acquire for a man of skill. And Tensai was such a man.

Isaribi stayed silent for a few moments, just gaping at him incredulously, before she replaced the bandages.

"How can you just say something like that?" she asked him, voice once more subdued.

"Because it's the truth. I work for a group called Mirage, quite influential. One of their ships was among those destroyed, so they sent me and my team to investigate and put a stop to the attacks." he casually explained "The man who runs the company owes me a few favors, so it would be quite easy for me to arrange something along those lines."

"Fine." she sighed "I'll help. By the way, I never heard your name..."

"Mezuro. Kaichi Mezuro, at your service."

"Isaribi" she offered in turn.

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**Author's Notes: **Yes, Naruto has mad scientist moments. Why? Because I find it entertaining. And I hope you will too. Anyway, to the subjects at hand, yes, I've separated them and they will rejoin at some point, no I will not write down which group is where, again, because I've already done so in the story. Will any of the people mentioned here be joining the group? Who knows, you _might_ find out next chapter.... if I'm not feeling overly evil. When will I update next? Unlikely till next week, I'm going to be out of town for the weekend, as I'm going to a summerhouse of one of my friend's family. I need my several times delayed vacation away from civilization...

Oh, and I almost forgot... will Naruto get just Yugao, or both Yugao and Haku, or a full harem? I'll simply be evil and say.... NOT TELLING!

And to be nice, yes, there will be some fluff coming up soon.

Well, anyway, this was the opening chapter of the new arc, not much interesting happening here. Hope you liked the ambush, though. Seemed like the best way to handle the situation (well, apart from Haku and Yugao seducing and then killing him... and I'm not good at writing scenes like that, unfortunately :| )

Short explanation for the two jutsus

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Earth Release : Mud Bullets 

_Earth Jutsu/ Rank C / Offensive/*Tactical_

_The user fires five projectiles of sticky, caustic mud at the victim. Should these projectiles hit, they deal minimal damage , but greatly hamper the movement of the victim._

Ice Release : Frozen Pillar

_Ice Release / Rank A / Pure Offensive_

_Using the residual moisture in the air, the user creates a pillar of ice around a target. The height to which the pillar can and will go is decided by the creator at the moment of use. Any body part caught by the pillar faces near instantaneous hypothermia and freezing damage to tissue. Without medical aid, the parts damaged so cannot naturally recover. Should a victim be completely encased in ice, he or she will die near immediately, barring special capabilities that would counter such a death (Jinchuriki status, specific bloodline limits, and so on.)_

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So, read & review, the usual stuff, ask any questions that I didn't answer already...


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